Special Ops: Susan Rizzi and the N7's
by cswang
Summary: The Reaper War has caused untold devastation and chaos across the galaxy as well as the largest military mobilization ever seen by the sentient species. Among those on the front lines of the war is Susan Rizzi, N7. Can she survive crazy missions, oddball team members, and an incompetent procurement department? And if she survives the war, will it be with her sanity intact?
1. Introductions and Insertion

**Author's Note:**

Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all its associated terms, images, etc. belong to EA/Bioware. No profit is being made from this story, it's just for fun. Original Characters belong to me.

The genesis for this idea hit me after watching a clip of the N7's on shore leave in the _Citadel_ DLC. I especially loved the bits with Susan Rizzi, the N7 Fury who keeps getting issued Graal shotguns in her requisition packs. I sympathize strongly with her, particularly after getting an Argus rifle five times in a row.

The Shepard in this story is based on my own prime playthrough: a full paragon male vanguard imported through all three games in the series. This story opens partway through the third game, before/during the Priority: Perseus Veil mission and after the Batarian Codes sidequest.

* * *

Lieutenant Susan Rizzi checked the seals on her armor again as the shuttle rocked as it hit atmosphere. In theory all equipment was thoroughly maintained and cared for between missions, but one of the lessons drilled in by the N7 program was that you always took care of your own gear. If you were going to entrust your life with it, you'd better be able to vouch for it yourself. She slipped on her left glove, feeling the brief squeeze as the wrist seals engaged. She sent a brief pulse of biotic power through her left arm and nodded in satisfaction to herself. That particular check done, Susan looked around the shuttle cabin at her other team members for this mission, and once again silently marveled at the drastic changes that had overtaken the galaxy and by extension her life. Her team members included a turian from the Armiger Legion, a vorcha formerly of the Blood Pack mercenary group, and an armored krogan who was examining the omni-blade mod on his shotgun with childlike glee.

Not so long ago, she would probably have been carrying out missions against the individuals she was sharing a shuttle with. It was a sign of how monumentally vast the Reaper threat was that such old grievances were set aside in the common interest of survival. She wasn't surprised that it had taken such an apocalyptic common foe to bring the various sapient species together. And while the Alliance brass and such high-and-mighty heroes as Commander Shepard might wax poetical about standing together and the unprecedented achievements brought about by that cooperation, Susan Rizzi doubted that they had to put up with all the disruption and mix-ups the N7 Special Ops teams did.

She'd thought integrating and coordinating operations with the turian military had been difficult enough, despite their background in joint exercises. Then small units of asari commandoes and specialists had shown up and volunteered their services, and nobody sane was going to refuse _that._ The reputation of asari operatives was well earned, but the Alliance quickly learned they needed to factor in their independent and informal structures and methods. Dealing with asari commando units was more like dealing with a large family than a military outfit. Yet that had proven nothing compared to the revelation that Shepard had cured the Genophage and secured the undying loyalty and adoration of krogan throughout the galaxy. Krogan troops from the clans on Tuchanka as well as mercenaries from abroad threw themselves into the biggest fight the galaxy had ever seen with an enthusiasm and fervor that frightened Susan and did nothing to help maintain discipline among the ranks. To the krogan brawling was a natural stress outlet and social ritual that was typically followed by heavy drinking.

She'd thought things had been crazy then. The legendary Shepard appeared intent on gathering every known species to fight the Reapers. There came an influx from mercenary groups like Eclipse and the Blue Suns, hardened combatants she'd normally have been fighting against. There'd been rumors that Shepard had cut some deal with Omega's former ruler to make that happen. Susan mostly avoided the mercs when off-duty. She'd been part of enough covert ops against them that she didn't want to risk being recognized for having vaporized somebody's buddy or something. Still, she had to admit to herself that vorcha could be surprisingly personable when they weren't trying to kill her.

Then Shepard had somehow convinced what remained of the Batarian High Command to lend their strength to the increasingly diverse alliance. There'd been a lot of mutters among the N7s and Alliance marines, especially veterans of the Skyllian Blitz. Susan had been among those assigned to help integrate Batarian troops into their operations, an assignment she'd accepted with only marginally less dread than baiting a thresher maw on foot. To her surprise that had gone remarkably smoothly. The batarian remnant was disciplined if a bit demoralized. She couldn't fault them for that. Their systems had been the first to fall to the Reaper invasion, barely before Earth. Perversely, that might have helped smooth things between Alliance and batarian troops. Losing a homeworld tended to encourage looking at the big picture, and gave both species added incentive to set aside their mutually hostile history and focus on the Reapers.

In any event, the sheer variety of species and the different culture and mindset they brought to the table would have rendered conventional Alliance methods and organization woefully inadequate. Compounded with the fact that the Reapers were trampling all over everybody's fleets whenever they tried to stand and fight and command structures were a mess, team organization and mission deployment protocols were… informal. Teams and missions were put together as needed, and the majority of the time saw career military personnel deploying alongside those fighting for more immediate mercenary gain. In between fighting for their lives, Susan considered it a good day if she didn't have to deal with, krogan head butting, jealous tiffs for asari affection, or making sure people weren't eating the wrong kind of food and going into anaphylactic shock.

Another tremor rocked the shuttle, pulling Susan out of her thoughts. The turian across the shuttle's passenger compartment from her was intent on his armor, especially the distinctive jump jets built into the suits of the Armiger legion. The pale yellow tattoos covering his face were a stark contrast with his dark gray skin. She leaned a bit closer to him and raised her voice over the droning roar of the shuttle's engines.

"I didn't catch your name at the muster," Susan said. The turian looked up from his armor checks and flashed a grin.

"Felix Kerranus, Armiger Legion," he said. He extended his hand in human fashion and Susan shook it after a brief moment of surprise.

"Susan Rizzi, N7."

"Susan Rizzi the 'Furious Graal'?" Felix said as his eyes widened. "It's an honor!"

"What?" Susan cocked an eyebrow at the turian's delighted expression.

"You're Susan Rizzi? The N7 biotic, Fury specialization?"

"Yes," she said. She thought again about what Felix had called her and had a sudden sinking feeling where this conversation was going to go. She also noticed that the vorcha and krogan were looking over at them with expressions uncomfortably like awe.

"Oh, you're legendary in the Armiger!" exclaimed Felix.

"Urdnot Grunt uses you as an example of human spirit," said the krogan.

"Yes! Fearsome warrior," added the vorcha. "Also, very inventive use for Graal. Me consider trying sometime."

"Oh no," said Susan. She brought a hand to her face and groaned.

"You're talking about the incident with the-"

"Requisition officer," confirmed Felix. "You know I heard the manufacturers were planning to add a note to the user's manual that testing the in-built blades via 'forceful insertion into nether orifices' is not an approved use?"

"What?!" Susan blushed. "I didn't actually _do_ that!"

"I know, just threatened to," said Felix. He chuckled. "I never imagined I'd actually meet you. You really dislike shotguns, huh?"

"It's not that," sighed Susan. "I was having a particularly bad day. That req officer just… tipped me over the edge."

"Over a Graal Spike Thrower?" Felix asked.

"A Graal Mark Three," Susan said. "I'm a biotic - do you know how often I bring shotguns on missions? Never!"

"Right, I got you. Don't want to mess with your cooldown rates too much with such heavy weapons."

"Exactly! And I explained that nicely to Requisitions the first two times they issued Graals to me. I'm never going to use one!"

"Tell me about it," said Felix. "They issued me a biotic amp upgrade the other week. I'm not a biotic!"

Susan snorted. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Anyways, I didn't mean to cause such a scene. I didn't know there was a crew filming either. I should probably be glad I still had my faceplate on."

"So, why bad day?" asked the vorcha.

"You mean aside from the imminent destruction of sentient life as we know it?" said Susan.

"Can't think about Reapers all the time," the vorcha shrugged.

"My brother was an engineer in the Fifth Fleet," she said. Susan closed her eyes for a moment before continuing. "He survived the battle of Charon Relay when the Reapers hit. It was all chaos for a while as the fleet tried to regroup and picked up various stragglers. He got a message out to me some time after that. Said they were looking to tap him for some project that could win the war."

"We've heard the rumors," said Felix. "Something called the 'Crucible'."

"Probably," said Susan. She didn't know why she was sharing this with a squad of strangers. It felt… right, however. "Anyway, a week after that his ship answered a distress call from a refugee convoy. It turned out to be a Cerberus ambush. The initial attack knocked their power out. He was part of the repair crew that got them back up and running, just in time for another shot that vented their section. I got the news as we were returning from a mission that day. The captain even sent me a letter talking about what a hero Sam was and how he saved the ship."

"You and your brother were close, then?" asked Felix.

"Yeah," said Susan. She smiled as she gazed off into nothing. "Did everything together growing up."

The shuttle trembled again, jolting her out of her reverie.

"Anyways, that's why I kind of lost it with that poor req officer. He didn't deserve that."

"Oh," said the krogan. He sounded disappointed. "I thought a stick puppet show using bureaucrats mounted on Graals was a great idea."

"Me too!" said the vorcha.

"Uh, thanks?" said Susan as she lifted an eyebrow. "By the way, I don't know your names either."

"Dagrob Lurg," said the krogan. The pattern on his head ridges indicated he was still a relative youth. "Vanguard, trained under Thresher Company."

"Me Grahzshik!" said the vorcha, who wore a pair of circular welding goggles on his forehead. "Incendiary specialist!"

Susan nodded at them. "Good to meet you."

"What are we doing here?" asked Felix. "I didn't get a full briefing on this mission. I only know we're headed for someplace called Verdanta."

"It was an agricultural colony," said Susan. "Last report said it's been evacuated. However, a scout ship tracking Reaper movements went down on the planet. We have their location from a distress beacon."

"Survivors?"

"Unlikely," Susan said. "The last transmission received from the crew said Reaper forces were closing in."

"Data recovery then?" said Felix.

"Yes," said Susan. "Our objective is to make sure we recover that Reaper movement data. We get in, upload the data, and get out. No non-combatants expected in the mission area."

"Ah, good!" said Grahzshik. "Me free to use fire!"

Susan was a little unnerved by his enthusiastic grin. "Try not to roast the objective."

He looked crestfallen for a moment, then the grin returned. "Me try!"

"ETA to groundside five minutes, Lieutenant," the pilot's voice came over the intercom.

"Copy that," replied Susan. "Everybody finish your gear checks."

Quickly she finished checking her armor seals and drew her weapon from its holster. She double-checked the weapon's ammo block and heat sink. As a biotic, she tended to fire fewer rounds from her weapons than many other soldiers, but hard experience had taught her that when you needed a weapon, you needed it _now_ and it had better work. Felix was doing the same, she noted. He handled his Phaeston with practiced ease, checking the action and heat sink. Susan went back to her own weapon and activated the power magnifier mounted on the Eagle.

"ETA two minutes," announced the pilot.

Finally, she slipped on her helmet and the world came alive with a flurry of diagnostics and retinal displays in the eye lenses. A crosshair appeared in the center of her vision, as did an indicator for how many shots the current heat sink in her weapon could handle before it needed replacing. Faint blue outlines appeared around her teammates. She cycled through some other displays, making sure the shield status display and objective markers were functioning.

"One minute."

Satisfied with her helmet checks, Susan reached back and drew up the hood issued to all N7 Fury specialists. Like the rest of their armor, it was woven through with microcircuits and energy directors to help control the Annihilation Fields they were trained to project. She looked around and saw that Felix and Lurg had both put their helmets on as well. Grahzshik had slipped his welding goggles over his eyes and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Crap," she heard the pilot say. "Lieutenant, we've got enemy air assets on an intercept course. They'll be here within minutes."

"All right," said Susan. "Drop us off and get clear. Try to make it back to the _Antietam_ and maintain communications."

"Aye, aye, lieutenant."

The shuttle's engines changed pitch as it slowed down approaching the drop zone. The side door opened with a hiss, and Susan took in her first sight of Verdanta. A rose-hued sun shone down through clear skies onto fields of green and gold crops nearly as tall as she was. There weren't any signs of Reaper occupation, but that didn't mean much. More than one team had been lured into complacency by seemingly tranquil surroundings, only to be ripped to shreds when Reaper forces suddenly poured out of nowhere.

The wreckage of a crashed ship was about a hundred meters away from the shuttle. Susan recognized the design as an Alliance ship. A long furrow of gouged earth trailed behind it, showing the trail of its crash. Burned and flattened crops surrounded the wreckage along with bits and pieces of the ship itself. The ship had come to a halt close to a miraculously intact set of farm structures, tall prefabricated white structures that probably served as storage or processing.

Rizzi took all of this in even as she hopped out of the shuttle and ran towards the nearest cover, an abandoned tractor. It was standard practice for a squad to deploy and spread out from a shuttle as quickly as possible to minimize opportunities to take them down all as they were clustered together. She heard the crackle of a cloak activating and looked around, verifying that it was Kerranus. Lurg and Grahzshik were spreading out as well.

The shuttle took off, climbing at a sharp angle. As the roar of the engines faded a sullen silence fell over them. Rizzi was suddenly reminded of the stillness before a breaking storm. For a moment she felt an odd desire to take her helmet off and breathe in the scents of the fields, to forget the war and pretend she was visiting this scenic planet for the sheer delight of it. But of course that wasn't the case. She couldn't forget the war, and neither could anybody else. It was too large: the scale too grand and the stakes too high. It would leave an enduring mark upon all the races of the galaxy - or it would erase them all. Rizzi pushed the thoughts aside and focused on fighting the war the only way she could: one mission at a time. She gestured to the crashed ship ahead.

"Move out."


	2. Extraction Under Fire

The squad moved quickly towards the crashed scout ship, spread out so they wouldn't get caught together but close enough to support each other. The angular lines of the Alliance-designed ship were marred and buckled by its crash, and the white and blue finishing was charred and blackened from a combination of reentry and weapons fire. An open hatchway about halfway down the ship's 60 meter length faced them like a sinister invitation, and Susan Rizzi kept her weapon trained on it as they approached. There was still no sign of an enemy presence, but that was no comfort to her.

"Lurg, check inside," she said. "Kerranus, keep an eye on those buildings. Anything could be hiding in there."

"Got it," Kerranus said as Lurg hopped up into the hatch, sweeping in all directions with his shotgun. Rizzi and Grahzshik kept scanning the fields. The crops were growing tall and wild in their untended state, and enemies could exploit that. A minute later Lurg stuck his head out of the hatch.

"Clear."

Rizzi climbed through the hatch. The ship interior was dark and unpowered, so the first thing she did was head for the engineering section after activating her armor-mounted light. Crumpled bulkheads and destroyed consoles were everywhere. She also noticed ominous signs of small arms damage: there'd been some fierce fighting inside the ship at some point.

"Lurg, did you see any bodies?"

"No. You saw the bullet holes too, huh?"

"Yeah. Not a good sign." She raised the two squad members outside on the comms. "Kerranus, Grahzshik, we've got signs of small arms combat in here but no bodies. Keep alert."

The turian and vorcha acknowledged her update as she reached the engineering section. Fortunately it didn't look like the damage was too extensive, so she started to selectively restore power to the systems. The ship lights flickered back on as she headed for the command and control center in the center of the ship. Unlike the rest of the ship, most of the consoles in here were intact, which she gave silent thanks for.

She accessed one of the powered consoles, searching for the data and entering the passwords and authorizations that had been in the mission briefing. She sighed in relief as she saw the data was still intact. She prepped the files for transmission to the orbiting _Antietam_ and saw the problems.

"Control," she said over the comm. "This is ground team."

"Go ahead, ground team," said the disembodied voice of their mission control. Captain Frances Banafsheh was onboard the _Antietam_ coordinating their efforts on the ground.

"Be advised that the objective is present but needs to be reconstructedt. Also, the ship is damaged and we are unable to transmit. Repeat, cannot transmit. I'm initiating a local download; we'll extract the data manually."

"Copy that," replied Captain Banafsheh. "We're dealing with the Reaper interceptors now; the shuttle should be on the way soon."

Kerranus broke into the conversation with a crackle of static. "Heads up," he said. "We've got movement coming from those buildings!"

"Reapers?" asked Rizzi. Lurg was already pounding towards the hatchway.

"One moment," said Kerranus. Then, "Confirmed Reaper forces spotted. Marauders and Cannibals."

"Engage at will," ordered Rizzi as she started the rebuild process of the data. "Focus on keeping the ship clear."

"Acknowledged," replied Kerranus. The distinctive chatter of his Phaeston started echoing through the downed ship. Rizzi glanced down at the progress and cursed. It was going to take several minutes, and all under Reaper assault. Setting an alert on her omni-tool for when it finished, she sprinted for the open hatch.

She took a quick survey of the scene from the cover of the hatch. There were over a dozen Cannibals surging towards the ship from the buildings, their misshapen forms trampling crops to mulch. A quartet of Marauders followed several meters behind them, laying down ranging fire with their own Phaestons and directing the Cannibals. As Rizzi was watching the rightmost Marauder suddenly seized up as the telltale surge of an overload dropped its shields. A burst of rifle fire decapitated the harvested turian as Kerranus blinked into view behind a piece of wreckage about ten meters away from the hatch. The remaining Marauders and Cannibals scattered into the surrounding crops, quickly vanishing into the dense growth as they went prone and went for

A burst of fire hammered the hatch by Rizzi's head and she ducked back into cover for a second. Her helmet scanner picked out the shooter, drawing a glowing highlight around its silhouette through the crops. Rizzi focused on her biotics and channeled it at the Marauder who'd fired at her, shredding it on a molecular level with mass effect fields. She saw Grahzshik snapping off bursts from his SMG while hunkered down behind another piece of wreckage. A Cannibal was coming up on his position from a blind spot. Rizzi was just focusing her biotics again when a blur streaked into the Cannibal and sent it flying backwards several meters as Lurg's biotic charge connected. The krogan put a shotgun blast into the Cannibal for good measure, and then roared in challenge as another two Cannibals turned their weapons on him.

Grahzshik fired an incendiary round into the left Cannibal that Lurg followed with a shotgun blast. Rizzi hurled a biotic throw at the Cannibal on the right that knocked it to the ground in a heap of broken limbs. She took careful aim from her position and put two rounds into it, stopping its quivering. Lurg charged off into one of the Marauders, dropping its shields with his shotgun before head-butting it. The Marauder dropped, its skull a mangled wreck. She saw Grahzshik lunge out of cover and head towards the upright crops concealing the remaining Reaper forces, pouncing around on hands and feet like a predator scenting blood.

Lurg dropped back into cover, barriers flickering as they recharged after the volley from the Cannibals. Another burst of Phaeston fire sounded, followed by Kerranus reporting over the comms, "Cannibal down."

"You see anything else from your position?" Rizzi said. "Crops are blocking me here."

"Same here," Kerranus said. "There's at least one more Marauder and Cannibal in the fields close by. Wait, you hear that?"

There came a gurgle from somewhere in the crops, then the distinctive warbling drone of a Marauder encasing a Cannibal in armor. Rizzi was tempted to just spray rounds into the dense fields and hope for something, but held her fire when she remembered the vorcha was also in the fields. A sudden screeching roar preceded a burst of flame in one cluster of crops, followed rapidly by the pained keening of burning Reaper troops. Thick black smoke boiled into the air.

"Looks like the vorcha found them," Kerranus said as he decloaked close to the hatch. Grahzshik strode out of the fields, a wide grin beneath his goggle-covered eyes. He gave them a thumbs-up that came across as a curiously human gesture.

"One Marauder and two Cannibals," he said. "No others spotted."

The team gathered at the hatch with the area clear. Dead Reaper troops littered the ground between the ship and the farm buildings and the fire Grahzshik had started was still burning. Rizzi resolved to keep an eye on it, but there wasn't much they could do to put it out. She glanced over the corpses again. A force of Cannibals led by Marauders, a typical group except for the-

"Anybody see any husks in that mix?" Rizzi said. "A group this size there should have been some."

"Negative," Kerranus said as Grahzshik and Lurg shook their heads. "You're right. All our combat analysis indicates a force this size should have been accompanied by husks."

"Maybe they're running out," Lurg said. "Ancestors know we've killed enough of them."

"If only," Rizzi said. Her omni-tool pinged; the data had just finished reconstructing. "We need to transfer the data to a drone and move it out of here. Stay alert; keep an eye on those buildings. It looks like they can hold a lot more Reaper troops."

"Got it covered," Kerranus said. He signaled Grahzshik to a piece of wreckage and took position behind another one that gave him a relatively clear view of the buildings. He didn't give Lurg any specific instructions; turian experience running joint operations on Palaven had taught them getting krogan to adhere to a plan in the middle of a fight was frequently a lost cause.

Rizzi backed in through the hatchway to the corridor in the wreck. She turned towards the control center while focusing on her omnitool to set up a drone for deployment. She'd taken four steps when the first husk attacked.

The withered human form dropped onto her from the ceiling, sunken eyes glaring mechanically as it grappled her, trying to wrap one hand around her throat while the other wrestled with her gun arm. She squeezed the trigger reflexively but all that accomplished was putting a round through the floor. The husk's mouth yawned open and it howled, a sound she was alarmed to hear echoed by a host of other calls inside the crash.

Her close-quarters training kicked in and Rizzi plucked the husk's hand from her throat with a swift tug. Simultaneously she punched the hand held by the husk across its chest to cross its center and push it off balance before flinging it to the deck. She finished the husk with a fierce stomp to the head, grimacing at the wet _crunch_. There wasn't time to wipe her boot off either; four more husks were dropping from the corridor ceiling and another was skittering overhead toward her like an overgrown spider. Perfect.

Rizzi focused her mind and activated her biotics, surrounding herself with a swirling field that tore targets she designated to their constituent atoms. She followed up with a biotic blink into the group of husks, unleashing a pulse that knocked the howling monstrosities off their feet even as the Annihilation Field twisted and dissolved limbs and tissue with horrifying speed. She looked up and hit the husk on the ceiling with a Throw that smeared its innards across a meter of the metal plating. She looked for more husks as she took a deep breath to bring her pulse back under control, but there weren't any more at the moment. Where had these come from?

She brought her pistol up at a sudden clatter that turned out to be Lurg clambering in from the hatch. His helmet swung around surveying the mangled husks. "Did I miss all the fun?" he said.

"Hopefully," Rizzi said as she dismissed her Annihilation Field. "Where the hell did they come from?!"

Lurg shrugged. "Didn't see 'em earlier. Hiding somewhere?"

Rizzi looked over the ceiling again. Several panels had come loose, either knocked off entirely or barely hanging by a hinge. "Maybe in the ducts and shafts?"

Lurg panned his weapon light over the gaps. He grunted in agreement. "They're puny enough to fit in there."

"Everybody stay alert," Rizzi said over the comms. "We had some husks hiding inside the wreck. No telling what else might be around."

"That might explain why we didn't see any in the group from the buildings," Kerranus said. "That's not good for us if they're learning to hide their forces in different areas. We'd better hurry and get that data out of here."

"Agreed."

Rizzi hurried to the control center, keeping a wary eye on the ceiling and other little gaps and openings. Lurg stayed with her, panning his shotgun around. At the console she deployed a drone and set the data to download to it.

"Commencing download," the drone chirped in its synthesized voice. "Please stand by." Rizzi snarled at how slowly the progress bar was moving.

"This is going to take longer than we want," Kerranus said.

"At least there aren't any-"

"Hostiles!" Kerranus said. "Coming from the buildings!"

"I just had to open my mouth," said Rizzi.

"Uh, we got some Brutes here," Kerranus said.

"Me see three," added Grahzshik.

"On our way," Rizzi said. She and Lurg sprinted for the hatch as the sounds of battle started once again.

"Ground team, this is control," Captain Banafsheh said.

"Go ahead, control," Rizzi said. "Be advised we are currently engaging hostile forces." A round flew through the hatchway up ahead and she slid the last meter to the doorway edge before peeking around.

"Command has currently designated Brutes as high priority targets of opportunity," Banafsheh said. "Do your best to neutralize them if you have the chance." There was a raging firefight outside as Kerranus and Grahzshik traded shots with a group of Reaper troops sheltered in the crops and behind other pieces of wreckage. Muzzle flashes revealed seven of them.

"Copy, control," Rizzi said. "It's not like we were planning to just let them kill us." The Brutes were stalking towards the ship in a spread, trampling crops underneath their claws. Her HUD overlayed the brutes with little diamond icons, designating them priority targets. She tagged the rightmost one with a warp effect and it stumbled but then continued charging forward, driven by implacable Reaper will.

"For Tuchanka!" cried Lurg as he charged into the Reaper line. With the Marauders and Cannibals distracted by the havoc caused by an enraged krogan in their midst Kerranus and Grahzshik switched their focus to the Brutes. A combined fusillade of gunfire hammered the hurt Brute. A visible trail of blood leaked from its pierced hide and disintegrating flesh, but it still pounded forward. Rizzi added her own pistol fire to the volleys pounding into the Brute. Finally the twisted hulk had taken all the punishment it could and collapsed to its knees, making one final hateful lunge as it died. A crazed laugh sounded from where the Reaper line had been as Lurg finished pounding a Marauder into the ground.

The two other Brutes used the death of their brethren to close the gap even more. Rizzi hit one with her biotics and a handful of pistol rounds and then sprinted out of the hatchway towards a piece of wreckage. What mad universe was this where she ran _toward _monstrous turian-krogan hybrids whose sole purposes were to kill everything in sight? She activated her Annihilation Field as she dropped into cover, a Cannibal spraying rounds at her until Lurg smashed into it.

One of the Brutes was nearly within striking distance of Kerranus and it surged forward in a sudden charge. Kerranus launched himself to the side with his propulsion packs a split second before the Brute smashed into the piece of debris he'd been taking cover behind. The force of the impact dislodged the mangled engine fin and tumbled it across the ground. The Brute swung its head around as if searching for a target, then roared as Kerranus decloaked behind it by putting a burst into its hind legs.

Rizzi vaulted out of cover and blinked over to the Brute, bringing it in range of her deadly aura. She hit it with another pulse of biotic force to trigger the explosion unleashed by the cataclysmic interaction of different biotic energies. The Brute swung towards her, its face a mess of dissolving tissue and multiple innards visible through its rent torso. Despite its ruinous injuries it caught Rizzi off guard with a swing that belied the ponderous size of its claw. Even as wounded as it was the blow still staggered her back two paces and destroyed her barriers. With a shout Rizzi detonated her Annihilation Field, focusing all its energies in one outward burst. The wave washed over the Brute- and utterly consumed its front half.

The rear half of the Brute dropped to the ground with a wet _thud_ as Rizzi caught her breath and let her barriers recharge. Kerranus stepped around the Brute remains to her side. "Remind me never to get on your bad side," he said as he reloaded.

"Where's the last Brute?" Rizzi said as she looked around. Twenty meters away Grahzshik and Lurg were pumping their arms in the air and bellowing at the sky. Between them lay the smoldering corpse of the third Brute in as many pieces, the entirety of the surrounding ground scorched black. "Never mind."

"Does it ever scare you that they seem to be having fun in this war?" asked Kerranus.

"Just be glad they're on our side," Rizzi said. Her omni-tool pinged its alert that the data had finished downloading. "That's it," she said wearily. "Let's get that drone out and get the hell out of here."

Rizzi and Kerranus headed towards the hatchway. With the Reaper troops dead the sudden quiet was overwhelming. The only noise besides their footsteps was the quiet crackle of crops still burning. Lurg and Grahzshik met them at the hatch, both of them covered in blood and viscera that Rizzi was relatively confident wasn't theirs.

"Sync your omni-tools to drone control Delta Seven," Rizzi ordered. She scanned the battlefield as the others tinkered with their omni-tools. The swathe between the crash site and the buildings was much clearer than before, the crops trampled to mulch by Reaper troops or ablaze from Grahshik's pyrotechnics. "Lurg, Grahzshik, keep watch out here. Kerranus and I will escort the drone out here, then we head for the evac site."

Rizzi and Kerranus ran for the control center where the drone was hovering quiescently, a holographic orb of blue light. As they drew close the drone activated in response to their omni-tool proximity. "Drone online," it said in its synthesized voice. "Heading for preset destination."

The drone started moving towards the hatchway, its limited virtual intelligence having scanned its surroundings and designated a route to the extraction site. Rizzi and Kerranus kept close, both of them constantly scanning their surroundings for more husks. None appeared; either there were none left or they remained dormant for whatever reason. Things remained peaceful for the brief trip to the hatchway. They were approaching the exit and Rizzi was just getting her hopes up that they could walk the drone to the extraction and fly off planet in peace.

"Banshee!" Grahzshik shouted over the comms.

"You're joking, right?"

The distinctive wail of a Banshee echoed through the ship.

"No joke," Grahzshik said over the sound of weapons fire.

"I got that, thanks."

"What's the plan?" Kerranus said. The drone was floating through the hatch.

"Kill the Banshee," Rizzi said. "Keep the drone moving."

"I'll stay with the drone," Kerranus said as he followed the drone through the door. There was a red flash and a hissing shriek and Kerranus slammed back against the edge of the hatchway before collapsing, a smoking scar on his chest armor. Two more shots hammered the wreck where Kerranus had been a moment before, making Rizzi flinch back.

"Ravager!" she shouted as leapt out and dragged Kerranus to a nearby trench. She checked Kerranus quickly; his armor wasn't breached or reporting any serious injuries. He groaned as he sat up. "Are you all right?" she said as she handed his weapon back to him.

"I'm good," Kerranus said. "Shields took the shot."

Another volley streaked overhead and they both hunched down a little more. Rizzi peeked over the edge of the trench. Two bulbous Ravagers were scuttling out of the buildings with an escort of Cannibals and Marauders. Between them, the tall spindly form of a Banshee took a step towards them and wailed. Rizzi fervently wished at that moment she'd had the foresight to order their shuttle to level those blasted buildings on approach. She frowned. The other two were nowhere in sight.

"Grahzshik? Lurg? Report," she said.

"Shh! Be very quiet," Grahzshik whispered over the comm. Rizzi suddenly thought of some old twentieth century earth animations her brother had been fond of.

The Reapers were advancing slowly, as if wary of how they'd been split up and taken apart piecemeal in the earlier fights. Rizzi hit the Banshee with a biotic distortion, focusing on overcoming the Banshee's own biotic barriers. At the same time she opened fire with her Eagle, putting a trio of rounds into the closest Cannibal. The left Ravager responded by digging its claws in and firing another volley at her that she barely dodged by dropping back into the trench.

The other Ravager continued advancing with the Cannibals. The Banshee remained in place, swaying back and forth almost drunkenly. Rizzi frowned, recalling various reports from combat units of Banshees occasionally acting strangely like this. She focused, readying another biotic. There was a sudden roar as a wall of flame shot up underneath the nearest Cannibals, roasting three of them. The blaze spread, catching on the dense crops and growing larger by the moment. Unfortunately the winds were driving the flames towards Rizzi and Kerranus.

"Why are the fields on fire?" Rizzi said.

"Is suppressive fire!" Grahzshik said.

"That's not that it means!"

"Too late!"

Behind the flames the Banshee wailed again and teleported through the flames. Kerranus, his shields recharged, swung up and hit its faltering barriers with an overload. The Banshee ignored it, fixed its stare on Rizzi, and teleported several meters closer. Rizzi pushed aside the icy grip of fear in her chest and forced herself into action.

"Kerranus, get that drone moving," she said. The Banshee blinked forward again. "Grahzshik, Lurg, take out the Ravagers and their escorts! I'll distract the Banshee!"

"Why do you get all the fun?!" Lurg said. Rizzi nearly burst into incredulous laughter.

"Your sense of fun sucks!" Rizzi said as the Banshee teleported towards her yet again. "Just kill the Ravagers, then feel free to beat on the Banshee all you like!"

Lurg roared an enthusiastic agreement and came blitzing out of a crop cluster from the side, Grahzshik dashing after him. The first Marauder to go down didn't have a chance to react. Lurg's impact bowled it over and he kept going, rushing past it into the midst of a trio of Cannibals. Grahzshik pounced on the prone Marauder, swinging savagely with his omni-claws. With all her senses heightened by the adrenaline of combat Rizzi saw a distinct length of intestine soaring through the air even as she refocused her attention on the Banshee.

Another overload hit the Banshee and overwhelmed its barriers. It made another short teleport just as Kerranus put a burst through its former location. Rizzi heard him mutter a curse and adjust his aim, hitting the Banshee but with little observable effect. It did make the Banshee finally take notice of him as it stopped teleporting to hurl a biotic orb at the turian. Kerranus narrowly dodged the projectile with a quick boost from his propulsion packs. The Banshee appeared to lose interest in him after the abortive attack and swung back around to fix Rizzi with its glare.

Rizzi activated her Annihilation Field as the Banshee jumped closer and took a deep breath. Charging a Banshee was not typically conducive to a long life. She threw herself into her own biotic blink towards the Banshee, bringing it within range of her deadly aura. The Banshee looked almost surprised by her actions and she took the opportunity to hit it with a biotic pulse. It jumped close, almost on top of her. She threw herself into a backwards blink out of range of its claws.

The Banshee wasn't finished yet. It blinked towards her again and she responded with another short teleport away. It was a dangerous game: staying far enough away from its deadly talons but close enough to keep it in reach of her biotic aura. She saw the Banshee's tough outer skin tearing apart from her biotics, but she wasn't sure she could keep this up for much longer as it relentlessly pursued her. Rizzi's entire awareness compressed down into the dance of distance. She lost track of how many times they'd ported around even as the Banshee showed increasing signs of the damage inflicted by the warping biotics. It felt like minutes, even hours, but she knew it couldn't have been that long.

Rizzi was breathing hard: she wasn't used to expending so much energy on biotics in so short a time. She felt her focus slipping - and it cost her. The Banshee blinked next to her again and she was too slow blinking away. It seized her by the throat with one hand, hoisting her into the air and drawing its other arm back to plunge into her chest. She saw her biotic aura rending the Banshee apart, the arm holding her dissolving by the second. It wouldn't be enough. She struggled in the monster's grip, snarling curses at it.

There was a blur at the edge of her vision and Lurg slammed into the Banshee, the biotic forces unleashed by his charge exploding as they met the warp fields on the Banshee. The explosion tore off the weakened arm, dropping Rizzi to the ground as the Banshee keened in pain and anger. Lurg plunged his omni-blade into its side as a volley from Kerranus tore into one of its eyes. Rizzi drew her arm back and hurled a biotic pulse up with everything she had left. The blast tore its head off. Instead of collapsing, its body hovered upright as it imploded and dissolved, the sinister Reaper programming ensuring that no remains could be captured or studied.

"Thanks," Rizzi said after she caught her breath. She climbed to her feet, each movement like swimming through molasses. Looking around, it seemed the situation was under control for the moment. The fire Grahzshik had started was still growing but not racing toward them. Reaper bodies lay scattered over burnt and trampled crops. Grahzshik was systematically moving between them and putting rounds into those that still twitched. The drone was still moving toward its destination, blissfully unaware of the furious battle waged for it as Kerranus escorted it.

"At least you saved me some," Lurg said as he reloaded.

"No problem," Rizzi said. She chose not to think about how close her brush with death was - that could come later. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Rizzi and Lurg jogged over to the drone. Behind them Grahzshik fired one more round and then moved to join them as well. Their comms crackled to life as they approached the extraction zone.

"Ground team, this is shuttle," came their pilot's voice. "I'm three minutes from your position."

"Copy that, shuttle," Rizzi said. She breathed a sigh of relief. The shuttle must have headed for them as soon as they'd gotten the drone up and running. She smirked. "Just look for the burning fields."

"Fire has own mind," Grahzshik said. "Me no control!"

"Think about that before setting fire to everything next time," Kerranus said.

"Me not burn everything," Grahzshik said.

"Yeah, the data's still here at least," Rizzi said. She scanned around, checking in all directions. It was just fields of crops and the mountains in the distance, a backdrop of beauty that felt out of place in the midst of the closer carnage. She was more tired than she could remember being for a long time.

"More of them!" shouted Kerranus. They came again from the accursed buildings. Unwilling to allow their prey to escape, the Reaper troops launched one last assault on the squad. Rizzi was so exhausted that she didn't remember much of the fight that followed. Their extraction zone had much less cover than the wreck site, so the four of them spent most of the next minutes hunched behind what they could, pouring as much fire as they could into the approaching Reaper troops to suppress them.

The only part of the fight Rizzi could consciously recall was Lurg going down. His barriers dropped by a Ravager volley, he was knocked out of cover by a charging Brute before they could recharge. The massive beast slammed the krogan aside as it swung to a halt. As Lurg climbed to his feet it snatched him up in one oversized claw and hammered him into the ground. The sound of his armor cracking carried over the gunfire. Lurg did not get back up.

Rizzi remembered the Brute going down in a storm of gunfire and biotics. A Cannibal had followed the Brute in and was hunched over Lurg's body, unhinging its jaws to devour his flesh. She blew it back with a biotic throw and ran over to the downed krogan, ducking under a Ravager shot even as Kerranus gutted it. Rizzi crouched over Lurg and administered a medi-gel dose. She couldn't lift a grown krogan, but he pushed himself up and shook his head groggily. She vaguely recalled some chatter on the comms at that point, but her next clear memory was the inside of the shuttle passenger bay as the door slammed shut.

The drone chirped in the corner as it uploaded the data. Rizzi took a deep breath and looked around. All four team members accounted for. Kerranus looked fine. Other than the scar on his armor, he looked practically untouched. Grahzshik looked considerably dirtier. He was covered in soot and blood, some of it his own. Cuts laced his arms along with a deeper gash across his torso. Grahzshik noticed her scrutiny and waved it away.

"Vorcha heal fast!" he said, holding up an arm. Before Rizzi's eyes one of the cuts slowly sealed, the tissue knitting together.

"Handy," Rizzi said. She'd known about vorcha healing, but had never seen it up close. She turned her attention to Lurg. He looked the worst out of them. His armor was cracked and two deep punctures marked where the Brute had gripped him. Blood oozed out of the cracks and his chest heaved with his breathing. He nodded slowly to her once.

"Control, this is ground team," she reported. "Mission complete. We have two wounded and need a med team waiting for us."

"Copy that. Good work, ground team." The relief in Banafsheh's voice was clear. "Come on home."


	3. Mess Hall Conversations

"I already told the med team, I'm fine!" Susan Rizzi said to the corpsman. She stood in the medical bay with arms crossed as the medic fiddled with the scanner.

"I understand lieutenant, but this is just standard procedure. Teams that experience combat must be examined-"

"I know, I know," said Susan. This always happened after missions. She sighed and lay down on the scanner bed as the corpsman ran the scan program.

"There doesn't appear to be any physical trauma," said the corpsman. "Your biotic implants show signs of intensive use and stress."

"I wonder why that might be," said Susan. The corpsman shot her a look but didn't otherwise respond.

"No signs of contagion or contaminants," the corpsman said. "All right lieutenant, you're cleared for duty."

"Thanks," Susan said. She got up after the scanner returned to place and looked over to where Lurg was in surgery behind a sanitation screen. "Any idea how he's doing?"

"Doctor Murphy is confident he'll make a full recovery."

"All right, let me know when he's out of surgery please," Susan said.

"Yes lieutenant," the corpsman said. "I expect you'll want to get some food."

"Yeah, thanks."

She gave the corpsman a perfunctory nod and left. The mess-hall was right next to the med bay. Felix Kerranus was already sitting at the central table with Service Chief Martya Aguinaldo. Kerranus was cutting into a hunk of cooked meat product from their store of dextro-amino foods. Susan smiled briefly at the thought. Not so long ago it was a rarity for human ships to carry food and supplies for other species. _The Reapers bring us all together_, she thought. Aguinaldo was off-duty, sipping a mug of coffee and examining Kerranus' helmet.

Susan stepped to the kitchen and browsed through the available choices, suddenly aware of how famished she was. Biotic use took a heavy toll on the body's energy reserves, and she always felt like eating her own body mass in food after strenuous missions. She signed out a serving of beef stroganoff and tossed it in the reheater. Alliance rations weren't great compared to fresh food made with quality ingredients, but a hot meal was a hot meal. As the reheater converted the cube of preserved food into discernible noodles and sauce she thought about an old restaurant in the Napa Valley of North America she'd had the pleasure of dining at once. It was a celebration from friends and family after she'd graduated from N7 training. She smiled as she recalled an evening with fantastic food and company but then felt her mood darken as she thought of the Reapers on Earth. She wondered if the restaurant still existed, or if it could ever recover from the war.

The soft beeping of the reheater jolted Susan out of her black reverie and she snatched the bowl of stroganoff. There was less than she'd expected. She hesitated but then gave in when her stomach growled loudly. She yanked the refrigerator open and grabbed the largest slice of cherry pie available. A plate in each hand, she strode over to the table and sat down across from Kerranus. He blinked at the amount of food she'd brought over.

"I didn't know humans ate so much," he said.

"We don't most of the time," Aguinaldo said with a chuckle.

"I'm a biotic, remember?" Susan said. She started eating, mixing the noodles with sauce. She missed the presence of real meat pieces, but the simple dish brought back memories of packaged meals as a little girl while waiting for flights at transit stations.

"Ahh," Kerranus said in understanding. "I haven't seen humans eat very often."

"I haven't seen turians eat all that often either," Susan said. Kerranus nodded thoughtfully.

"I never really expected to serve on a human ship," he said. "I was a bit surprised you had dextro food onboard at all."

"I think it was Commander Shepard who really got the brass thinking about stuff like that," Susan said. "He was running with such a diverse crew it drove the procurement guys nuts for a while. A turian and quarian among them, right?"

"Garrus Vakarian," Kerranus nodded. "A lot of high command thought he'd gone completely crazy when he started talking about giant monsters from outer space coming to kill us all. Bet they wish they'd paid more attention now."

"And Tali'Zorah," Aguinaldo said. "Rumor has it she's quarian nobility: an admiral's daughter or something."

"Shepard does run with a diverse crew," Kerranus said.

"That's not all," Aguinaldo said. "Scuttlebutt is Shepard and the quarian are… close."

"Close?" Kerranus asked as he cut another slice of meat. His slices were meticulous and precise, a model of control.

"Forgin' new paths in interspecies relations," Aguinaldo said with a smirk. "Deepening the bond between human and quarian."

"Oh," Kerranus said. He chewed a slice and swallowed. "I wonder how that works. I mean, quarian immune systems, dextro-levo protein incompatibility-"

"I do not want to know," Susan said. "And who the commander is with is his own business."

"Fair enough," Kerranus said. "Anyways, this isn't bad."

"Really?" Susan raised her eyebrows at him as she took another large bite. "Cause this," she said as she jabbed a fork at her plate, "is considered pretty bad by human standards."

"Ah," Kerranus said. He grinned at her. "I was being polite."

Aguinaldo snorted, and then started laughing. Kerranus joined her. A moment later Susan started laughing too. There was something so delightfully _normal_ about complaining about the food during a deployment or gossiping about celebrities. Like the beautiful view upon landing, it hid the reality of the war for a blissful moment. She quickly finished the rest of her noodles and turned her attention to dessert.

"So what's that?" Kerranus said as he nodded at her pie. He looked fascinated as she told him.

"I'm sure turians have dessert, right?" Aguinaldo said.

"Of course we do," Kerranus said. "There just isn't any on military ships. Rations all the way."

"Wow," Susan said. "You guys really are hardcore. I think Alliance brass would have a mutiny on their hands if they took away dessert. A happily fed soldier is a hard fighting soldier."

"We think discipline makes hard fighting soldiers," Kerranus said. "But I see the merits of dessert. When this is all over I'm going to push for desserts standard on turian ships too."

"You mean if we win?" Susan said. And just like that, the war was back.

"Minor detail," Kerranus said. "But it helps to have something to fight for. The fate of the galaxy, the continued existence of sentient life, dessert…"

"One of those things is not like the others," Susan said. Aguinaldo snorted into her mug of coffee.

"But still worth fighting for," Kerranus replied.

Susan stared at him for moment. Then she shrugged and nodded. It was hard to argue with that, especially with a plate of cherry pie before her.

The _Antietam_ shuddered briefly, signaling its transition to faster-than-light as they raced for the closest mass relay. Aguinaldo finished whatever it was she'd been doing with Kerranus' helmet and handed it back to him. He slipped it on for a moment and then took it back off and thanked her. Kerranus finished his meal and stood up, nodding to Susan and Aguinaldo. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep after that," he said. "Good work down there, 'Furious Graal'."

"Thanks, you too." Susan was tired enough to not blush at the nickname. "I'm sure there'll be an official AAR later."

"Oh I'm sure," Kerranus said. "Too bad our militaries are alike there instead of having desserts." He started walking towards the crew quarters. "I'll catch you later."

Aguinaldo turned to Susan once Kerranus was gone, curiosity in her eyes. "Furious Graal?" she asked. "What's that all about?"

Susan groaned and brought a palm up to her face.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Susan was still in the mess hall. Aguinaldo was gone, having returned to duty after badgering the story out of Susan. The table still bore some marks of the coffee she'd sprayed at Susan's description of a bureaucratic puppet show. Susan had just decided to do some weapon maintenance when the med bay door slid open and Doctor Murphy walked out wearily. Looking up, he saw Susan sitting at the mess table and dropped into the seat opposite her. Murphy was a thin, short man in his fifties. Susan rarely saw him without the white lab coat he was currently wearing.

"Lieutenant Rizzi," he said. He ran a hand over his shaved head. "Batali told me you wanted to know when the krogan came out of surgery."

"I did," Susan said. "How is he?"

Murphy smiled at that. "Full recovery expected. Surgery went without a hitch. He should be awake now, actually. Krogan physiology being what it is and all that."

"Can he have visitors?"

"Oh, I expect so. We do have him restrained currently. Again, krogan physiology. He wasn't quite in a blood rage, but we didn't want to take any chances."

"Thanks doc," Susan said. She pushed her chair back. "I'll go see him."

"A question before you leave, if I may," said Murphy.

"Sure."

"I've noticed that each time you return from a mission, you visit any team members who were wounded while deployed with you. Even those you weren't familiar with. Why?" Murphy said.

"Do I need a reason?" Susan replied.

"Of course not," Murphy said. He brought his fingertips together before his chest. "What you're doing is a wonderful thing. My observation is that few Alliance troops make such an effort with turians or vorcha or krogan, though. To say nothing of batarians."

Susan sniffed. "They haven't taken a good enough look around then," she said. "We're living out a galactic extinction event. Giant mecha-cthulhus are coming to harvest and kill us all! We're a little beyond petty grievances now! None of the politics and bullshit about Council standings or favoritism or colony skirmishes will matter if the Reapers win!"

"This is true," Murphy said as he motioned for her to calm down. He arched an eyebrow at her with a smile. "It also does not answer my question."

"Because they're there," Susan said. She grew very still. "I'm sure you've seen the casualty reports, doctor," she said quietly. "The Reapers are wiping out platoons at a time. Any mission could be our last. The way I see it, I need to take every opportunity I can get to know the people I fight with. And if there's anything the Reapers have shown us, it's that we're all people. It doesn't matter if they've got two eyes or four, dextro DNA or tentacles instead of hair. The Reapers see us as all the same. Maybe that's something we could stand to learn from them."

"An admirable attitude," said Murphy as he nodded.

"My dad was kind of a Shakespeare nut," Susan continued. A part of her wondered why she seemed to be sharing so much about herself today. "There's a line in one of his plays. It goes something like 'he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother'."

"Henry the Fifth," Murphy said. He smiled at Susan's look of surprise. "I was a bit of thespian enthusiast in school."

"I already lost my brother to this war, Doctor Murphy." Susan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She stood up. "I'm learning to appreciate the family I have left."

Murphy gave her a nod filled with understanding and respect. "Thank you for sharing that with me, Lieutenant Rizzi. As I said, Dagrob Lurg should be awake and capable of receiving visitors. Should you decide to undo his restraints, please explain that they were just a precaution given his condition."

"I will. Thank you, Doctor Murphy."

Susan nodded to him as he moved to pour himself a mug of tea. He gave her another smile that she returned. The conversation was over; Murphy approached making a cup of tea with the same intensity and focus that he did trauma surgery. She took a step towards the med bay and then a thought struck her. She turned towards her quarters instead.


	4. Med Bay Relaxation

"Rizzi!" Lurg said as she entered the med bay with a bag in hand. "Why am I tied up?"

The krogan was strapped down to an infirmary bed with thick bands crossing his legs and torso. His arms were also tied down to the bed with more straps. He squirmed, and out of his armor Susan thought he looked just a little like a turtle on its back. She suppressed a grin at the thought, grabbing a rolling chair from the med bay desks and pushing it over to the bed.

"The medics were worried you'd enter a blood rage," she said as she dropped into the chair. The food had helped but she was still tired. "Human medical equipment isn't usually built for raging krogan."

"Oh." Lurg stopped squirming and looked at her. "I'm not raging, so can you cut me loose?"

"Only if you stay in bed."

"Fine."

Susan quickly located the strap buckles and undid them. Lurg sighed in relief and stretched his arms above his head, then winced. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to relax for a while," he said.

"My thoughts exactly," Susan said. She pulled a small table over. It was usually used to hold various medical tools but was currently empty, perfect for her purposes. Reaching into her bag, she drew out two shot glasses and set them on the table.

"What's this?" Lurg eyed her with a mix of curiosity and hope.

"This is us relaxing," Susan said. She drew a bottle out of the bag. "With ryncol."

The change in Lurg's face was nothing less than astounding. It reminded Susan of a puppy that had just discovered the joys of begging for table scraps.

"How'd you get ryncol?!" he said. "I thought humans didn't drink the stuff."

"It disagrees with most humans, yeah," Susan said. "But I'm a biotic with Fury training."

"How does that help?"

"It means I've also got specialized Fury implants. It turns out one of the side effects of the implants is they inhibit the body from processing some of the stuff in ryncol. It just goes right through." Susan opened the bottle of green fluid, savoring the eye-watering sensation of the vapors as she did so. "Still packs a hell of a kick though."

Lurg chuckled. "That almost seems like its cheating," he said.

"Do you want any or not?" Susan said with a grin as she held the bottle up.

"Of course!" Lurg said. Susan poured measures of the krogan liquor into the glasses and handed one to Lurg.

"To your health," Susan said as she lifted her own glass towards him. She took a sip, relishing the spice and sweetness followed by the burn. One of her fellow N7 graduates had described it as "kissing an asari and then being punched by her krogan boyfriend." Lurg took a sip of his own, smacked his lips, and sighed contentedly.

"You're all right, Rizzi," he said. "There aren't many humans who'll drink ryncol with you, much less ones that threaten to shove shotguns up bureaucra-"

"So, how'd you end up here?" Susan said quickly.

"You were there," Lurg said. He looked at Susan with narrowed eyes. "A Brute pounded me into the ground. Is the ryncol getting to you already?"

Susan laughed. "I meant… this war, and the Special Ops teams in particular," she said.

"Ohh," Lurg said. He took another sip. "I was actually on Tuchanka when Shepard cured the genophage."

"Really? What was that like?"

"Well, at first it didn't really feel like anything," Lurg said. Susan recognized the distant look in his eyes, as if he was reliving the moment. "It rained… light. We didn't understand what was happening at first. I was with my clan. We were gathering because we'd heard that Reaper forces had landed on Tuchanka. The light drifted all over. Anybody touched by it would just… absorb it. Some thought it was a bioweapon. Then word started getting out, all over the planet. The genophage was cured. Urdnot Wrex and Shepard had done it."

Lurg's eyes were wet. His voice had gotten huskier as he'd recounted the events. And for the first time, Susan felt a measure of genuine appreciation for what the genophage cure meant to the krogan. Here was a young man who'd witnessed a new life for his entire species unfolding before his eyes. Who'd seen a new future and hope for himself. She realized her eyes were wet as well.

"The clans sent representatives to the Kelphic Valley. How could they not? Our entire history had just changed in that moment. I was chosen by my clan as one of the representatives. We gathered together, and Urdnot Bakara came and spoke to us. She had helped create the cure. So we listened, of course. For once, there was no jockeying for power, no bringing up old grudges. This was too big.

"She spoke about Wrex's vision for a future for the krogan, a place in the galactic community. One where we were no longer outcasts or mercenary scum. One where our children, _our children_, could be proud of our role in beating the Reapers! They were mobilizing troops to relieve Palaven."

"How'd that go?" Susan said. "I know the krogan and turians haven't always gotten along."

Lurg laughed at the understatement. "Surprisingly well," he said. "Bakara explained that it would be our final statement that the genophage was wrong: that the turians needed the krogan to save them from the monsters after all. But I think it was simpler than that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. The krogan went to Palaven because Shepard and Wrex wanted us to, and they'd just cured the genophage. You don't say no after that."

"So why aren't you on Palaven then?" Susan asked as she refilled his shot glass. Lurg gave her a nod of thanks and took another sip.

"Because there was another option," he said. "Shepard's information officer contacted Wrex during the musters and told him about the Special Ops teams. I volunteered as soon as I heard they were recruiting."

"Why?"

"Because of a slaghole of a planet called Korlus," Lurg said. Susan hid her frown behind another sip. She recognized the name. She'd been part of a special forces mission there for the N7 program. A strike against a Blood Pack force, it had been bloody and brutal.

"I've heard of it," she said. "A ship graveyard."

Lurg nodded. "It's the reason I was on Tuchanka when the genophage cure happened. It was about a year ago," he said. "I'd just gotten off Tuchanka for the first time. Got work as a mercenary with the Blood Pack." Susan felt a block of ice form in her chest. That was just about when her mission was…

"It was my first job with the Pack. We were scavenging for parts to build ship railguns," Lurg said. Susan kept her face still. This was all sounding extremely familiar.

"We were on this derelict ship in orbit," he said. "I think it was turian, don't remember for sure. The power was weak and kept cutting in and out."

It was a turian ship, Susan recalled. A large cargo hauler, battered and some of its outer layers collapsed. Finding suitable breach locations had been one of the N7 tests.

"We got hit, must have been a Council team," Lurg continued. "Great fight. Close quarters, cramped corridors, and lights flickering on and off. It was like a dance party." Susan wouldn't have described it that way.

"They were tough, much better than the Blood Pact says Council races are. There was this one biotic who was ripping through bulkheads and hatches like a thresher maw through a cattle herd. She must have been one of those asari commandos. She hit the boss with some biotic field that tore him up, then triggered a blast that tossed me through a bulkhead and knocked me out. They must have shot me too cause when I woke up I had a new hole to breathe through."

Lurg tilted his head back, showing the scar of a bullet hole in his throat. Susan remembered the shot: a hasty, poorly aimed round in the heat of the close quarters fight. Alliance doctrine was to shoot downed krogan to overcome their incredible stamina and propensity to get back up twice as angry.

"Thank the spirits for a redundant nervous system!" said Lurg. "Anyway, there wasn't much of a future for a merc whose first job goes that bad. I left the Blood Pack and got back to Tuchanka. That team showed me that non-krogan can be fighters too, and I've wanted to fight alongside them since then. So when the word got out that they were recruiting for these teams, of course I signed up."

"She wasn't an asari commando," Susan said quietly.

"Huh?"

"That biotic you were talking about. She wasn't asari."

"How do you now that?" Lurg looked at her in puzzlement and Susan felt the block of ice in her chest sink down to her stomach. Why was she revealing this to him? Was it the ryncol? Lurg cocked his head in revelation. Something about her expression must have given it away. "That… was you?"

Susan nodded leadenly. A sudden mad desire to laugh wildly bubbled up within. If she had to confess to a krogan that she'd been the one who shot him, she thought, at least he was unarmed. Maybe she shouldn't have undone his restraints though.

"We'd gotten word that the Blood Pact was making a move to acquire some heavy weapons. We were sent in to shut them down, make sure that didn't happen." Susan took another sip. Sharing was easier than she'd expected. Maybe it _was_ the ryncol.

"That bullet was me too." She nodded at his throat. "I wasn't sure if you were down for the count." She coughed awkwardly. "I guess you weren't. Um, sorry. For shooting you."

A low rumbling sound came from Lurg's throat and Susan mentally prepared to summon up her biotics. In such close quarters, she needed to gain some distance to- Lurg was laughing, she realized. He took the ryncol bottle and poured himself another shot.

"You should have gone for the head," he said, tapping his head crest. He laughed louder.

"You're… not angry?" Susan asked. She took a bigger sip and relaxed - a little.

"For shooting me?"

"And ruining your first job."

"Nah," Lurg said. He sat up and looked at her. "I never really liked those bastards anyway. I was glad I didn't have to stick around. There's no shame in losing a good fight like that, and it meant I was on Tuchanka for the greatest thing that ever happened to us."

Susan sat back and let out a sigh. She was profoundly relieved she wasn't going to be fighting an enraged krogan in close quarters - again.

"Besides," Lurg added, "anybody who pulls my quad out of a fire and then brings me ryncol afterwards is fine by me!" He lifted his glass to her and downed the shot. Susan raised her own glass to him and brought it to her lips just as the door behind her hissed open.

"Ah! Party started!" Grahzshik stood in the doorway, a bag of his own in hand. "Me late?"

"Come in," Lurg said. "Drinks are more fun with more people!"

Grahzshik strode in happily and snagged the other wheeled chair on his way.

"They let you out of the med bay fast," Susan said. His arms and left leg had bandages wound around them. "No medi-gel?" she asked.

"Me not need," Grahzshik said. "Vorcha heal fast."

"Yeah, you mentioned on the shuttle. What about infection?"

"Oh, doctor use antibiotics. Medi-gel precious, save for more serious case," Grahzshik said. He sat down in the chair by Susan and sniffed the air. "Ryncol?"

"Indeed," Susan said. She reached into her bag and pulled out another shot glass, pouring him a measure. "What've you got there?"

"Human food," he said. Reaching into his bag Grahzshik pulled out a package of… turkey jerky. "Strange but good. Dried bird meat."

Lurg made a face. "That doesn't sound very good."

"You try." Grahzshik slit the package open with a practiced motion and plucked a piece out. "Will like!"

Lurg took the offered piece gingerly, sniffing at it before biting off the end. He chewed thoughtfully and nodded several times. "That's… good!" he said and bit off a larger chunk. Susan smiled at his enthusiasm and took the piece Grahzshik offered to her. She bit into it and nodded after chewing a bit - it _was _good.

"So, what me miss?" Grahzshik said after sipping his ryncol.

"Rizzi shot me!" Lurg said.

"When that happen?" Grahzshik said. "And why you not bleeding?"

"Not now, a year ago." Lurg showed Grahzshik his bullet scar.

"Turns out we were on opposing sides during one of my missions," Susan said. "I had no idea."

"Ah," said Grahzshik. "Good that you friends now. Galaxy has bigger problems!"

"Thanks Grahzshik," Susan said. "That's quite a healthy viewpoint."

The vorcha shrugged. "We vorcha not live as long as other species," he said. "Why waste time holding grudges?"

"Good point," Susan said as she tipped her glass towards him. "So, what's your story?" she asked after another sip. "How'd you end up doing… this?"

"Were you a mercenary?" Lurg asked. "Before the war?"

"No," Grahzshik said to their mutual surprise. "Me welder for volus company. Build low orbit stations."

"How'd you end up doing that?" Susan said. "I've never met a vorcha who wasn't involved in, well, a violent lifestyle."

"Me adopted very young," he said. "Raised by volus company."

"Like that asari group Mind and Hand on Parasc?" Susan was referring to an asari charity that had first adopted and raised vorcha nonviolently.

"Ah, yes yes!" Grahzshik said. "Lots of vorcha on Parasc. Then Reapers come. Kill them all. Gathered with other vorcha to fight Reapers. Company gave weapons and talk to Alliance for us. Been running missions since. Lots of fun!"

"You both have _terrible_ senses of fun," Susan said.

"What?!" Lurg said. "Combat is lots of fun!"

"Fighting against giant mechanical abominations intent on wiping all of us out is fun?

Lurg looked thoughtful for a moment while he chewed on his jerky. Then he nodded.

"Yup!"

"More important now than ever to have fun," Grahzshik said. "If lose, nobody have fun anymore. Have fun now, while still alive!"

Susan stayed quiet a long moment as she processed their responses. Finally she shrugged and grinned. "Works for me!" she said before downing her glass. Lurg and Grahzshik both cheered before downing their own drinks. _If anybody passes out,_ Susan thought, _at least we're already in the med bay_.

"So what are some other missions you've been on?" Lurg said after they'd quieted down. "You must have seen a lot of action, the way you fight."

"Yes," Grahzshik said. "Me love stories!"

Susan chuckled. She hadn't felt this at ease since the war started. She was reasonably sure a big part of that was the ryncol, but right now she didn't care.

"Well, there was this one mission," she said. "A crew of batarian pirates had been ambushing human ships and taking their crews. We finally tracked them to their base. It was this old super freighter in low orbit around a gas giant. We were going to do a shuttle insertion…"


	5. Back to the Lair

"Lieutenant, we're approaching the fleet muster."

Susan Rizzi jolted awake at Captain Banafsheh's voice. She looked around groggily, wondering where the voice was coming from. Belatedly she realized she was still wearing her communicator earpiece. How had that happened? The last thing she remembered was… oh, Med Bay. She, Lurg, and Grahzshik had talked long into the night shift, swapping stories. And drinking more ryncol than a human ever should. She wondered if she actually would set off radiation alarms right now.

"Lieutenant?" came Banafsheh's voice again. Rizzi sat up quickly, tapping the response button.

"Yes Captain. I'll be right there." Susan rolled out of her bunk and dressed quickly, donning her duty uniform with practiced ease. She rushed out of the crew quarters to the lift, heading for the CIC. The doors hissed open and Susan saw she was the last of the Special Ops team to arrive. The other three were clustered with Captain Banafsheh near the galaxy map.

The Captain was one of the many team liaisons with Alliance Command and served as their mission control during deployments. Frances Banafsheh was a tall willowy woman with cropped brown hair and dusky skin. Susan had only deployed on three missions with her, but she was impressed by Banafsheh's dedication and professionalism. Currently Banafsheh was speaking quietly with the others and pointing out several sectors on the map. Susan walked over to them, ignoring the hustle and bustle of the _Antietam_'s daily operations.

"Lieutenant," Banafsheh said as Susan saluted. "At ease."

"I'm impressed you're on your feet," Lurg said.

"Likewise," Susan said. "The doc clear you for duty?"

"Ah, he wants me to take it easy for a bit. I'll be back in fighting shape by the next mission."

"Good to hear." Susan turned her attention to the map and frowned. It was showing an awful lot of red and yellow, indicating Reaper controlled territory and contested territory.

"I was just telling the others about the Kepler Verge," Banafsheh said to Susan. "The Reapers are launching a major offensive, and we've got reports of Cerberus activity in the region as well. We don't know if they're coordinating their efforts at this time."

"Either way that's bad news for us," Susan said. "If we lose the Kepler Verge that entire arm of the galaxy gets isolated."

"Indeed," Banafsheh said. "We can't allow that to happen obviously. Sorry folks, we're not getting any downtime. Fleet assets are mobilizing as we speak. We have orders to transfer back to the Lair, where new squad deployments and missions will be assigned."

"What about our equipment?" Felix Kerranus said.

"Gear will be transferred to the Lair and then to whatever ships you end up on," Banafsheh said. "Pack and bring your personal items with you."

The holographic map dominating the CIC switched to a display of the fleet muster as the _Antietam_ passed the picket line. Susan whistled at the array of the combined fleet. Icons and emblems showed elements of the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Fleets from the Systems Alliance forming its core. Ships from the turian 79th Flotilla and Sixth Fleet were present in large numbers. Susan saw multiple krogan transports flitting between the human and turian cruisers. There was an asari squadron of four frigates headed by a cruiser, a batarian wolf pack squadron, and even an STG cruiser.

"Wow," said Felix. "That's quite a force."

"We can only hope it's enough," Banafsheh said.

The _Antietam_ headed towards the center of the fleet, maneuvering past the gathered squadrons and larger ships. Susan recognized the _SSV Logan_, flagship of the Alliance Third Fleet. Trailing below the dreadnought was the Lair. That wasn't its official designation, but it was the commonly accepted nickname the N7 Special Ops Teams had given it. It consisted of three repurposed ark ships connected side to side by their docking tubes. The massive starships had been converted from livestock haulers to a home base for the teams. The Lair was practically a space borne city, with living quarters, dining commons, armory, training and recreation facilities, almost everything required to support a community.

"All right," Banafsheh said. "That's enough sightseeing, be in the shuttle bay in fifteen minutes."

* * *

Susan made it to the shuttle bay with plenty of time to spare. She was used to packing light and it took no more than two minutes to toss her personal items into her kitbag. The shuttle bay itself was bustling with activity as servicemen stowed the team's armor and weapons in crates for the transfer.

"So, what do you think will happen?" Felix asked from behind her. The lift door hissed open and Lurg and Grahzshik strode into the shuttle bay. They were all carrying a single bag similar to hers.

"I don't know," Susan said. "This sounds like a big push. There will probably be a lot of shake-ups."

"Is nature of war like this," Grahzshik said. "What can you do?"

"Make sure your weapon's loaded and you're ready to die," said Lurg.

"I prefer to put off that dying part for as long as possible," Susan said.

"Agreed," said Felix.

A stocky man with blond hair came up to Susan and saluted. "Lieutenant," he said. "We're just getting the last of the equipment loaded on the shuttle. We'll be ready to leave as soon as Captain Banafsheh arrives."

"Thanks, Lars," she said.

"Operative," he said to Lurg, "good to see you on your feet. You looked pretty messed up after that last mission, no offense."

"Hah!" Lurg said. "It takes more than that to keep me down!"

"Well next time, please try not to get hurt," Lars said. He grinned. "The blood was a pain to clean out."

Lurg laughed. "I like you humans more and more," he said and gave Lars a slap on the back that nearly bowled him over. "I'll make sure it's all Reaper blood next time!"

The lift door opened as they were all laughing. Banafsheh entered the shuttle bay with her own bag over her shoulder. She smiled at the gathered team.

"I'm glad you all can still enjoy yourselves," she said. "There's precious little of that going around these days."

"Captain," Lars said with a salute. "Shuttle is ready to go at your discretion."

"Thank you Chief." She motioned to the Kodiak. "Shall we?"

Lars entered the cockpit as the five of them piled into the passenger compartment. It was already loaded with all their crates of equipment and made for an extremely cramped ride. They were practically pressed up against the door for the duration of the trip, which was mercifully short.

"Captain," Susan asked during the ride. "Do you know anything about potential missions or assignments?"

Banafsheh shook her head. "The best I can tell you is that Alliance brass is very concerned about communication stations and equipment. We have several communication hubs in the Verge. I'd expect those to be priorities."

Susan nodded and spent the rest of the flight in contemplation of another major Reaper offensive. The ugly truth was nobody could stand and face a full Reaper fleet head-on. That was suicide, plain and simple. Every major movement the Reapers made always turned into campaigns of hit and run missions and guerilla warfare. Every major movement the Reapers made also resulted in the death of people she knew and cared about. Who would die this time? Would it be one of the fellow graduates from her N7 class? One of the Special Ops team members? Somebody in the shuttle? She tried to push the thoughts aside.

Just a few minutes later the shuttle landed in one of the Lair's cavernous docking bays. The door swung open into a scene of organized chaos. Other shuttles were unloading passengers and cargo. Service crew ran back and forth with maintenance equipment while others transferred crates to carts. Operatives in various uniforms and dress moved purposefully towards the hatchways that led deeper into the ship. Banafsheh's omni-tool pinged and she checked her message as they all debarked the shuttle.

"Duty calls," she told the others, yelling to be heard over the din in the docking bay. "Keep your bag with you, but don't worry about the other gear," she said with a wave at the crates. "They'll be transferred to whatever your next ship is."

With that Banafsheh rushed off towards the hatch even as a maintenance crew approached their shuttle. With little else to do the team followed after her, dodging equipment carts along the way. On the other side of the hatch things were calmer but not by much. While there were no shuttles or carts the corridor funneled individuals together into a packed crowd. The sound was what struck Susan the most. Voices from half a dozen species reverberated in the passageway and individual conversations were practically impossible.

Fortunately the press of the crowd eased up. People split off into adjoining corridors individually or in small groups as they headed further into the Lair. As the crowd shrank the volume grew more bearable.

"So what now?" Lurg said. His question was answered when his omni-tool pinged followed almost immediately by Grahzshik's. "They want me in Intel Sector Two for a briefing," he said.

"Me report to Sector Three," Grahzshik said. He looked at the others. Susan had never seen a vorcha look so sad before. "Guess this goodbye for now."

Felix nodded to the two of them. "It's been an honor."

"Stay safe, you two," Susan said. Grahzshik nodded.

"We share more stories next time!"

Lurg punched his fists together in agreement. "Next time," he said, "the ryncol's on me! I've been brewing up a batch. It'll make the regular stuff seem like salarian ale! Hahaha!"

The krogan and vorcha moved off quickly, taking one of the side corridors. Felix and Susan watched them leave. After a moment Felix turned to her.

"Home-brewed ryncol," he said. "I'm not sure that's a good idea without a redundant nervous system."

"Oh I'm sure it isn't."

"Well, we haven't been summoned yet," he said holding up his omni-tool arm. "Want to grab some chow?"

"Sure," Susan said. "The food wasn't bad last time I was here."

"Wonder if I can convince them to stock turian desserts," Felix said as they followed signs for the dining commons.

Their omni-tools pinged.

"Looks like we won't be finding out right now."

"I'm going to Sector Four," Susan said. "You?"

"Same," Felix said after he checked. "Think that means we're still in the same squad?"

"Maybe," Susan said. "I've given up trying to make sense of Command's decisions."

They headed for Intel Sector Four, guided by the directions in their omni-tools and the periodic signs in the ship. Other operatives were headed the same way, including a fair number of turians. Many of them appeared to know Felix and greeted him by name.

Intel Sector Four was behind a hatchway with a security checkpoint. This was standard procedure for Alliance operations. Susan and Felix waited in line as other operatives passed through the checkpoint. The guards at the checkpoint read her rank insignia as she approached.

"Lieutenant," the one on the left nodded. "Please place your palm on the reader."

Susan did so, allowing the reader to scan her palm print and DNA data. The Marine on the right tinkered with his omni-tool for a moment, transferring data to Susan's as the reader verified her identity.

"Thank you, ma'am. Go ahead."

The door slid shut behind her and locked with an audible click. Susan found herself in a corridor wide enough to drive two Makos down side by side. Doors lined both sides at regular intervals with glowing numbers above them. Operatives milled around the corridor. Some headed purposefully to rooms while others loitered outside and chatted. Susan checked the data dump the Marine sent her; she was ordered to Room Four. She still had a few minutes before the briefing started so she decided to wait for Felix.

He came in not long after, looking at his own omni-tool as he stepped through. "What room are you in?" he said without preamble.

"Four, you?"

"Aww, I'm in Room Eight. That probably doesn't bode well for staying in the same squad, huh?"

"It probably doesn't," Susan said. She offered her hand to Felix. He shook it. "Good serving with you, Kerranus."

"You too, Rizzi." He grinned. "My fellow Armigers aren't gonna believe I deployed with the 'Furious Graal!'"

"Oh please don't."

Felix laughed as he headed towards Room Eight with a final wave. Susan shook her head and smiled before heading to her own briefing.

Room Four was a small rectangular room dominated by a holographic projector at one end and a handful of chairs at the other. It looked like she was the last one to arrive. Captain Banafsheh stood by the holo projector and nodded to Susan as she entered.

Susan quickly took in the three other operatives seated in the chairs. There were two humans: a man with a mix of East Asian and Middle Eastern features and a woman with swept back dark red hair. Apart from them sat an asari with an impatient expression on her face, idly drumming the fingers of a hand against her thigh. Susan took a seat of her own.

"Let's get started," Banafsheh said. She activated the holo projector, which displayed a planet Susan didn't recognize. "By now you're all aware of the Reaper offensive in the Kepler Verge. The Eighth Fleet is currently in full retreat. This," she said indicating the planet, "is Ontarom. It's located in the Newton System there."

"What's important about it?" said the red-haired woman.

"Ontarom is home to a crucial communications hub for this arm of the galaxy," Banafsheh said as she hit some buttons on the projector. The view zoomed in to a schematic outline of a comm facility. Susan leaned forward in her chair. She took in the large dishes that dominated the skyline. Pipes and walkways ran around the central array control and connected it to multiple smaller transmission towers.

"This facility was knocked out of action by a Cerberus raid two days ago. We drove them off before they could destroy the facility, although Intel is still uncertain whether they want to destroy it or capture it intact for themselves. We need to get this facility operational for this counterattack.

"An engineer team from the 103rd Marine Division will land and repair the station," Banafsheh continued. "They will be accompanied by two Grissom Academy trainees for support."

"We're sending kids into battle now?" said the black-haired man. His expression revealed his opinion of that idea. Susan felt the same and was about to speak up as well when Banafsheh shook her head.

"If all goes according to plan, they won't see action," she said. "The trainees are there for support purposes only: biotic barriers and area control. If they see combat, that means _you_ screwed up. Your squad," she said as she panned her gaze over the operatives, "will be responsible for security. Your mission is to keep the engineers and the kids safe so they can do their jobs. You interdict and suppress hostile elements before they get to that team. Any questions?"

"What's the projected opposition?" Susan said.

"Most likely Cerberus forces. For whatever reason the Reapers have ignored Ontarom so far, and scout drones have picked up Cerberus chatter in-system. No confirmation of intent, but this facility is the most strategically important asset in the Newton System."

"Who else might be there?" asked the woman. "Civilians?"

"Ontarom does have a small colony," Banafsheh said. "We are not expecting any civilians at the facility itself, but that is a possibility. If there are any civilians there, do your best to keep them safe. We'll evacuate them when we have the chance."

"What if they can't repair the facility?" said the asari.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. If the facility truly can't be repaired or you cannot hold it in the face of an enemy assault, set charges and make sure it does not fall into enemy hands. Let me reiterate, that is a last resort. If we lose this facility our communications throughout the Kepler Verge and this arm of the galaxy will be crippled. Any other questions?"

Susan shook her head along with the others.

"This is a sector wide offensive," Banafsheh said. "We will be based on the _SSV Salvador, _a Fifth Fleet cruiser. Be at Docking Bay Seven by 2100 hours. Final shuttle assignments will be relayed then. Dismissed."

* * *

Susan stepped out of the room after the others. None of them seemed interested in socializing and headed up the corridor without so much as an introduction. She frowned and took a step after them. They weren't even speaking to each other…

"Rizzi! Briefing just finish?" Felix was walking toward her having stepped around her squad mates.

"Yeah," she said.

"Well, I'm back with a turian squad for now," he said. "Looks like we're heading to a moon with conditions the Armiger's handled before. This whole thing's a mess."

"At least you're with people you know then," Susan said. She jerked her head at the departing trio, who still hadn't said a word to each other. "My new squad didn't even introduce themselves."

Felix's eyes widened. "That's your squad? You piss an admiral off or something?"

"What is it?"

"You know who you're deploying with?"

"Yes." Susan crossed her arms. "That's why I needed introductions."

"That's Lisa Marx." Felix ignored her sarcasm and nodded surreptitiously at the red-haired woman. "Also known as 'The Widow.'"

"Why? Does she use one?"

Felix nodded. "Pretty good with it too. Sixty-seven confirmed kills in her last four missions."

They started following the trio slowly, out of earshot but within sight. Susan shrugged at Felix.

"I fail to see the problem then."

"You know the other reason she's called 'The Widow?' Those last four missions she was the only one to come back alive."

"That sucks, but it happens."

"Word is she kept drawing the broken spear with squad members," Felix said. "Real scrubs and FNGs."

"Well that's not her fault," Susan said. "Sometimes I think the guys in charge are trying to lose this war."

"Word also is she got so fed up with some of her squad mates that she shot them herself."

"Bullshit."

"Hey, that's just what I heard," Felix said as he spread his hands at shoulder height. "I didn't make it up."

"How do you know all this anyways?"

"I hacked the personnel roster database," he said with a grin. Susan shot him a skeptical glance. "Okay, not really. I do like to know who prospective squad members are though." Susan nodded and then smirked after a few steps.

"If she's fragging squad members," she said with a nod toward Marx, "shouldn't she be 'The Black Widow?'"

Felix looked at her with a confused expression. "I don't think procurement's authorized her for one."

"Never mind," Susan said. "Earth reference."

Felix nodded and pointed to the man. "That's Elijah Wu. Decorated twice for valor."

"But?"

"Some say he's reckless, and that he doesn't care about who he's fighting beside." Felix said. "That if it comes down to a choice between saving a squad mate or killing another enemy, well, somebody's family will be getting a condolence letter."

Susan frowned. "Sometimes the demand of the mission…"

"I know. I've made some calls before that I… well anyways." He sighed and nodded at the last member of Susan's squad. "The asari is Maiena K'thane. Commando."

"Are you going to tell me she's indoctrinated?"

"No no, she's just kind of a mystery. Done a lot of classified missions - black ops and such."

"A lot of us have done classified missions before, Kerranus."

"True," he said. "Word is she keeps to herself. Almost antisocial, and doesn't spend much time with non-asari."

"If she can fight, I don't really care who she does or doesn't hang out with off-duty."

Felix looked at Susan. The concern shone in his eyes. "My point is you do good work. We need soldiers like you. Just… watch your back out there, all right?"

"I'll hold my judgment until after running a mission with them." Susan smiled at him. "But I appreciate your concern."

"Eh, I'm just being selfish," Felix said with a grin. "Verdanta was one of the smoothest missions I've had since this war began."

Susan arched an eyebrow at him. "We were jumped by a Banshee."

"And we killed it."

"That's true."

Their omni-tools pinged again at that moment.

"Ooh, getting paid!" Felix said as they both checked and saw their mission bonuses come through. "It makes all the getting shot at worth it. Come on; let's go get some new toys."

* * *

They wound their way through the Lair towards the procurement center. They threaded corridors and rooms full of different species. Humans and asari chatted with drell and salarians, while krogan and turians recounted their joint experiences on Palaven to vorcha and batarians. It was a cosmopolitan sight to rival the Citadel. Susan noted this to Felix.

"It makes all the infighting and bickering from before seem silly, doesn't it?" he said.

"Yes, it does. It's a shame it takes the imminent extermination of sentient life to make us realize that," Susan said with a sad smile.

"That's just sentient nature, isn't it?"

"I think so," Susan said. "Hopefully we'll remember this… if we win."

Felix nodded and set his jaw. "We will."

They got to talking shop after that, debating the finer merits of various methods of taking down hardened Reaper targets as they arrived at the procurement center. A long row of booths filled one side of the room where armorers filled requests and retrieved arms and armor from the cavernous rows of shelves stocked with equipment behind them. Dozens of operatives filled the room: waiting in line, chatting, and testing the feel of equipment.

A bank of consoles stood against the wall opposite the booths. There were no procurement officers on duty at the moment, which suited Susan fine. She and Felix stepped up to adjacent unoccupied consoles and filled in their procurement request forms. As operatives deploying on a mission in the immediate future they received priority processing and had only a short time to wait.

"Oh! A Valkyrie!" Felix said as he paged through his new authorizations. "I've wanted to try one for ages now!"

Susan laughed. "You sound like a kid on Christmas morning."

"Earth reference?"

"Yeah, sorry. Old habit."

"I don't mind," Felix said. Susan's console chirped as her request completed. "What'd you get?"

She paged to the first authorization and frowned. Five thermal clip packs. She'd lost track of how many pack requisitions she had. _I'm a biotic_, she thought. _It's not like I go through that much ammo on a mission._ She went to the next authorization. It was for a single use stabilization module to assist with recoil control.

"Those are nice," Felix said. He saw her expression. "Maybe not so much for a biotic."

Releasing a sigh, Susan flipped to the next item. Armor-Piercing Rounds Mark Three.

"They do know you're a biotic, right?" Felix asked. Her response was slightly less than coherent as she paged to the next item.

"Specialized Engineer training?!" she said. _"'Advanced Drone Techniques',"_ she read. _"'The latest advances in micro-rocket manufacturing'_?!"

Felix frowned at the screen. "That doesn't make any sense."

"You're telling me." She sighed. "Maybe the last item is something I can use."

She paged to the final item. An M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun Mark One.

"Why do you get one before me?" said Felix.

Susan's scream of frustration turned heads from down the corridor outside.


	6. Storm on Ontarom

Ontarom was dry, hot, and thus far, boring. Susan Rizzi patrolled along one of the communication facility's walkways, keeping an eye on the approaches. The engineer team and her squad had been here for the better part of a day already. While the engineers were certainly busy the mission was otherwise uneventful. Rizzi's thoughts wandered to her squad members again. They hadn't introduced themselves on the Lair or the _Salvador_, heading directly to their quarters without conversation. Introductions finally took place on the shuttle ride down to Ontarom.

Rizzi had struck up a rapport with Lisa Marx. Based on what Kerranus had told her, she suspected Marx just tended to be a little withdrawn with new squad members because of her previous experiences. She seemed friendly enough after opening up a little. Elijah Wu and Maiena K'Thane were something else entirely. Rizzi got the impression they could have gone the entire mission without saying a word to anybody else. _Cold_, she thought. At least the trainees from Grissom Academy were personable.

"All right! AA Guns are online!" called one of the engineers. Turrets swiveled and bobbed in the distance as somebody in the control center tested them. Rizzi headed up the walkway to the center tower where the engineers were working. She ducked in and saw one of the trainees, a young woman, at the gun control console.

"They look like they're working," Rizzi said.

"Good," said the engineer. "We're working on getting the power back to the dishes. This shouldn't take too long."

The other Grissom trainee walked past. He was carrying a heavy crate of tools and using his biotics to manage the load. Rizzi noticed the flirtatious looks the trainees shared. _Ah, youth_, she thought. She consulted a minute longer with the engineer and then followed the male trainee.

"Mr. Stein, a word please," she said. He'd just set the crate down besides an engineer. He jumped and saluted.

"Yes Lieutenant!"

Rizzi indicated outside with her head. They stepped out into the bright sunlight. Turning around, she saw Stein standing at attention and waved him to ease.

"I just wanted to say you might want to dial it back a bit around Ms. Ackland."

"Ma'am?"

"Save the biotic displays for when they're needed," she said.

"I don't understa-"

"You're showing off for Ms. Ackland. And in the process expending energy you don't need to. Energy you may need if we see combat here."

Stein flushed a deep red. "Have I been that obvious, ma'am?"

"Oh yeah. Like I said, save it for when it really matters."

"Yes ma'am! Sorry ma'am!"

"It's not a reprimand," Rizzi said. She smiled at Stein. "Just a suggestion."

"Yes ma'am. I'll be more mindful," he said. He still looked embarrassed.

"Besides, you don't need to try that hard," she said. "Ms. Ackland is paying plenty of attention to you already."

The young man managed to look embarrassed, hopeful, and triumphant at the same time. "Do… do you really think so?"

"Yes," Rizzi reassured him. "Just relax and be yourself." She gave Stein a look of mock sternness. "Not at the expense of the mission."

"Yes ma'am."

Rizzi decided she'd mortified the poor kid enough. "Dismissed."

Stein saluted and practically fled. Rizzi's earpiece crackled.

"So, are you playing disciplinarian?" Marx said. Rizzi could sense the smile. "Or matchmaker?"

"A bit of both," Rizzi said with a chuckle.

"Oh, to be young and foolish…"

"Indeed." Rizzi paused. "I get the feeling these guys are going to grow up in a hurry though."

"Probably," Marx said. "Anyways, did you see that sandstorm coming this way?"

Rizzi looked around. There it was, a massive front approaching rapidly from the west. She frowned at the size and speed of it.

"When did that happen?"

"Just in the last couple of minutes," Marx said. "I guess this planet has some crazy weather."

"Let's hope that doesn't affect the repairs." Rizzi gazed at the approaching storm. "How long do you think until it gets here?"

"Hard to say with these," Marx said. "I'd guess within the next half hour."

"Lieutenant!" called Ackland from the tower. "We have inbound contacts!"

Rizzi dashed in to the console. The scanner showed three shuttles approaching the facility.

"Identification unknown," Ackland said. The shuttles' IFFs were masked.

"They're not ours," Rizzi said. "And civilians wouldn't be running IFF maskers." As if on cue the scanners broke through the masking and painted the shuttles with a familiar icon. "Cerberus. Take them out."

"Aye aye, ma'am." Ackland entered commands into the console. A second later the thud of the guns outside filled the control tower. The lead blip on the scanner disappeared and the other two veered off, diving swiftly before disappearing off the scopes.

"Do you think they retreated?" Ackland said. Rizzi heard the anxiety in her voice and remembered that Cerberus had attacked the Grissom Academy.

"I've never seen Cerberus give up so easily." Rizzi squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. "Keep an eye on the scopes. Good work."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Rizzi headed outside and locked her helmet on before opening a channel to her squad mates. "Heads up, everybody. We just had two Cerberus shuttles go off-scope. Keep your eyes peeled for a ground insertion."

"Watch out for that storm," Marx added. "I'd use it for cover here."

"Good point."

Rizzi's earpiece crackled again. "Ground team, this is control."

"This is ground team," said Wu.

"A Cerberus cruiser just jumped in," Banafsheh said. "We are preparing to engage."

"We just engaged three Cerberus shuttles here," Rizzi said. "Be advised there's a major sandstorm approaching the facility as well."

"Copy that, ground team. We'll try to keep them from sending anything else down."

* * *

Fifteen tense minutes later the sandstorm washed over the facility. The storm completely covered the facility with blowing particles that reduced visibility to nearly nothing and played havoc with communications. Rizzi gathered with Marx and Wu in the array control. It offered the best lines of sight but that didn't mean much in the storm. K'Thane remained outside prowling the edges of the facility. Wu paced back and forth, fingering the hilt of the short sword strapped to his back. Marx peered through the scope of her Widow as she swept it back and forth methodically. Suddenly she paused and snapped the rifle back to a position she'd just panned over.

"I've got movement," she said. "Coming in from the west under that pipeline."

Rizzi focused on the location Marx had called out but couldn't make out details in the storm. She decided to trust Marx and looked for defensible positions outside. She settled on an elevated walkway with several large shipping crates sitting on it and pointed it out to her squad mates. They moved out purposefully from the tower.

"We have incoming," Rizzi said to the engineers and trainees. "Get those barriers up and keep your heads down."

She joined her squad mates outside. If anything the storm had gotten worse and they could barely see past their own arms. The howling also drowned out other sounds. Rizzi checked the silhouettes of her squad mates on her HUD. Marx and Wu were hunched behind crates on the walkway poking their heads above the edges. K'Thane was… on the other side of the control tower.

"K'Thane, do you want to join us?" Rizzi said.

"Negative. I will secure this flank."

"All right."

Another minute slipped by and Rizzi kept watch on the pipeline. There was a flicker of movement near the base of the closest support pillar outside the facility. She frowned and leaned a little further out of cover to get a closer look.

A sudden blitz of gunfire roared in. Two rounds deflected off the crate in front of her and her barriers stopped another. The rest of the fire was wild and inaccurate, haphazardly directed towards the walkway in general. She dropped back behind the crate, realizing that the storm played as much havoc with enemy visibility as her own. The incoming fire continued with furious intensity for another moment and then let up.

Wu and Rizzi popped up and returned fire. Without a definitive target for her biotics, Rizzi squeezed off rounds from her Phalanx towards where the enemy tracers had come from. Wu fired his Predator with one hand as he unleashed a Phase Disruptor blast with his other. Marx hadn't fired but had her rifle nestled against her shoulder as she searched for a target, conserving the single shot a Widow held for maximum effect.

"Do you see anything?!" Rizzi said.

"Can't see crap in this storm," Marx replied.

"Based on the fire I estimate six hostiles with rifles," Wu said.

"K'Thane, anything on your end?"

"Not right now."

Another flurry of rounds smashed into the walkway.

"That was closer," Marx said. She shifted her rifle around, cursing.

Rizzi looked around after the suppressive fire died down. Were those footsteps? The infernal howling made it nearly impossible to tell. There was a quiet _pop_ over to their left. The squad swung over, weapons leading the way. The end of the walkway was covered in smoke that compounded the poor visibility outside. Several sharp hisses sounded over the howling of the storm and Rizzi recognized the sound of Cerberus jump jets.

She opened fire blindly into the smoke cloud and was rewarded with a furious volley of rifle fire in return. She and Marx scrambled for new cover as her barrier status warning flashed in the corners of her HUD. Wu unsheathed his sword and slashed at the air, unleashing a rippling biotic wave into the smoke cloud. A shout of pain emerged followed by more gunfire. The fire increased in intensity forcing the squad further into cover.

"Fall back!" Rizzi said motioning the junction to another walkway that connected with theirs at a right angle about ten meters behind them.

Marx swung up and let loose a round from her Widow. The roar echoed even through the howling of the storm. The incoming fire let up as Cerberus troops decided against being in the open against the anti-materiel rifle. Rizzi and Wu sprinted back to the junction and slid into cover as they turned around and opened fire to cover Marx's withdrawal. A round slammed into her shoulder as she rounded the corner but was stopped by her shields.

"These bastards are persistent," Marx said as she swapped out the thermal clip in her rifle with automatic motions. Her rifle reloaded, she swung over and headed to the other end of the walkway they occupied to cover their flank.

"Enemy engaged," said K'Thane.

"Do you need help?"

A pair of shots sounded over the comm. "Negative."

A small short cylinder rolled down the walkway towards Rizzi and Wu. Her HUD tagged it with a priority threat icon.

"GRENADE!"

Rizzi and Wu both used their biotics to blink backwards behind other cover while Marx threw herself prone and rolled so that her feet were pointing towards the grenade. A second later it sent off with a thundering crack. Two forms charged of the storm, resolving themselves into Cerberus troopers looking to follow through the assault. The left trooper flew off his feet backwards like he'd been clotheslined as Marx's Widow roared. Wu hit the right trooper with a Disrupter blast that Rizzi followed with a Biotic Throw that knocked the trooper out of sight in the storm.

Another volley of fire drove them behind cover before cutting off suddenly. Rizzi raised her weapon expecting a charge but none came. The storm eased up slightly and afforded them a touch more visibility. It still wasn't great but they could see to the end of the walkway where the enemies had been - and it was empty.

Wu swung out of cover and dashed forward in a crouching run. Rizzi cursed and followed when he was halfway down, signaling Marx to cover them. She kept her weapon up as she peered into the storm looking for targets. Wu reached the end of the walkway and checked around the corner.

"Clear," he said. "They must have headed down that way." He indicated the tall transmission tower a dozen meters away and started moving towards it.

"Stay with the squad," Rizzi said. "We still don't know their numbers."

"K'Thane? Where are you?" Marx said.

"I'm still covering this flank. No further contact."

"Then get over here. We've got a squad of unknown size who've rabbited and we need to hunt them down."

"Negative. If that's the case then it's even more important I keep this flank covered. I suggest you find them quickly."

Marx's response was unsuitable for polite company. As the two argued briefly Rizzi became aware of static in the comms. She saw that Banafsheh was trying to contact them. _It must be this infernal storm_, she thought. _It's disrupting long range comms._

Ahead of her Wu continued advancing. She thought it fortunate he hadn't stumbled upon the enemy and gotten shot to bits but was losing patience with his recklessness. He approached a ramp that led to a central plaza full of pipes running over the bare ground. Susan opened her mouth to tell Wu to -

A high-powered shot rang out as Wu stumbled. Rizzi leapt forward, shouting Wu's name as she grabbed his collapsing form and swung him into cover.

"Marx!" she yelled. "Take out that sniper!"

"I'm on it!"

Rizzi flinched as another sniper round shrieked past her. She forced herself to ignore it and focused on Wu, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw he was alive. His barriers had taken the brunt of the shot, though the round had enough residual energy left to carve a furrow on the side of his helmet.

"Hey, are you alright?" Rizzi inspected the impact. It looked ugly but the shot hadn't penetrated his armor.

"I'm fine," Wu said as he brushed her hand aside. The storm had let up a little more and Rizzi thought she could see at least half a dozen forms moving to cover out down the ramp. Wu peeked out briefly and snapped off several shots before another near-miss from the enemy sniper forced him back. Rizzi replayed the angles of the shots in her mind.

"The sniper's moving around between shots," she said.

Marx's Widow roared.

"Enemy sniper… not down," she said. "Damn she's slippery."

The other forms clarified into Cerberus troopers as the storm further abated. The improving visibility worked both ways and they poured fire up the ramp as a Centurion behind them launched a volley of smoke grenades at the base of the ramp. She heard Marx cursing to herself as the other sniper dropped her shields.

Two troopers burst out of the smoke before them, spraying with their Mattock rifles. Her barriers stopped a round as she shot one of the troopers in the head before hitting him with a Throw. Wu dispatched the other trooper with methodical and efficient strokes of his sword. Rizzi was still unconvinced about the practicality of using a sword on the battlefield in 2186, but she had to admit that Wu made it look good.

The static crackling in the comms suddenly resolved into an intelligible voice, albeit heavily laced with static. "Control to ground team, please respond! Repeating, this is control to ground team!" Banafsheh called.

"This is ground team," Rizzi said as another sniper shot ripped through the smoke. Wu leaned out and returned fire blindly. "The sandstorm is interfering with communications!"

"That's what we figured," Banafsheh said. "Listen, all of you! Our scanners are picking up a radioactive signature coming from the facility consistent with a low yield atomic explosive!"

"Atomic explo- are you saying Cerberus brought a _nuke_?!"

"Affirmative!"

"I guess we know what Cerberus plans to do with this facility then," Rizzi said as she snapped off some shots of her own through the slowly dissipating smoke.

"Can we disarm it?" K'Thane asked.

"Yes," Banafsheh said to Rizzi's relief. "You'll need to stay in close proximity to the bomb so your omni-tools can interface with its systems! We'll crack the security from here! Hurry! We don't know how the storm may change!"

"Do we have a location on the device?" Wu said.

"We're isolating its location… now."

Rizzi cursed at the diamond icon that appeared in her HUD. It was on the far side of the facility past the plaza where Cerberus was dug in. _Of course_, she thought. _They were just holding us off_.

"I'm on my way," K'Thane said.

Two more forms appeared through the storm as the smoke drifted away. Rizzi recognized them as Dragoons, heavily armored biotic shock troops.

"Stay together," she said. "We'll take these guys and move as a unit to-"

The distorted whoosh of a Biotic Charge interrupted her. Wu had charged past the Dragoons towards the diamond blip, leaving Rizzi alone with two Dragoons rushing at her.

"Damn it, Wu!"

He didn't respond.

The Dragoons charged with servo-motor assisted leaps, swinging lengths of biotically charged lashes. Rizzi parried the first with a knee and forearm, redirecting the Dragoon's momentum to her left rather than taking the force head-on.

The second Dragoon's leap landed short but still within range of his whip. His swing caught Rizzi full in the chest. Her barriers collapsed as the whip discharged its energy in a single burst that threw her backwards.

She turned the fall into a roll and summoned her Annihilation Field with an angry gesture as she sprang to her feet. Both Dragoons paused, caught off guard by the swirling biotic aura encasing her. Rizzi burst into motion, combining a biotic blink with a leaping kick. The blink carried her to the side of the near Dragoon as her kick landed against his knee. The biotically empowered blow buckled the heavy armor even as her aura flayed away the outer layers of his suit. She followed the assault up with a Biotic Throw that triggered a blast and hurled the Dragoon off his feet. The entire sequence had taken less than three seconds.

The second Dragoon leapt at her again only to have his head disappear in a spray of armor shards and organic matter mid-leap as the roar of a Widow echoed through the facility. Rizzi sidestepped the falling body out of reflex - and a hand suddenly grabbed her head and wrenched it around.

An elbow crashed into her faceplate. Blinking away the impact Rizzi found herself staring into the four red slits of a Phantom's facemask. Still clutching the back of her head, the Phantom stepped close in a grotesque parody of an embrace - and plunged her sword into Rizzi's torso.

Rizzi tried to twist aside even as the blade, its edges powered and honed by mass effect fields to near monomolecular sharpness, pierced her armor and flesh. At first it felt like no more than a dull punch, the sort she'd taken in dozens of sparring sessions. Then the pain hit her a second later and her breath left her lungs in a sudden burst as she fought back a scream. The Phantom pressed her mask to Rizzi's in a mocking kiss and released her.

As the ground rose up to meet her ever so slowly Rizzi dimly heard someone shout her name. She tried to respond but all that emerged was a groan before everything went black.

* * *

She came to with a gasp as painkillers and stimulants flooded her system. A faceplate stared down at her and she tried to bring her pistol up -

"Easy!" Marx said as she parried the pistol. "It looks like the medi-gel's stopped the bleeding for now, but don't aggravate it."

As Rizzi got her breathing back under control she noticed the quiet. It took her three attempts to speak.

"Bomb?" she croaked. She tried to look around.

"It's disarmed." Marx was on one knee by Susan's side. She had her long rifle up to her shoulder as she swept it around checking for targets. "It looks like Cerberus fell back after that. It was a pretty small force, all things considered."

"Others?" Rizzi said. She tried to sit up. It felt like a krogan was sitting on her.

"Oh they're fine. They're securing the bomb for transport," Marx said. She noticed Rizzi's efforts and put a hand on her shoulder. "Try not to move." Susan heard the anger in her voice.

"Sorry... about this."

"What?" Marx looked down at her. "It's not your fault. Wu shouldn't have charged off like that. He heard your call. That's the kind of stunt that gets people killed!"

"I'll… have words… with him." She realized a part of her wanted to have more than words. A rather furious part indeed.

"That can wait," Marx said. "Let's get you out of here first."

She pointed to the large dishes overhead and Rizzi belatedly noticed they were slowly rotating. She also noticed the quiet hum of power flowing through the facility's pipes and systems.

"Mission complete?" It was a struggle to get the words out. The stimulant high was wearing off and she started feeling the throb in her side.

"Yup. Ahead of schedule. Evac's already on the way, so just stay still."

Rizzi nodded, or at least she thought she did. The world was a little blurry and getting more so by the moment. She thought she heard footsteps approaching followed by a male voice. The last thing she heard was Marx's angry response as she slipped back into unconsciousness.


	7. Turmoil after Ontarom

Susan Rizzi woke up slowly. Her eyes didn't want to open and her ears felt like they'd been stuffed with wads of gauze. Her eyes finally cracked open and she immediately shut them at the piercing light. _Where am I? What happened?_ She opened her eyes again, slowly. It looked like an Alliance med bay ceiling. _Oh, the Phantom. I must be aboard the Salvador._

"Lieutenant?" A woman was speaking to her. The voice came from far away. "Lieutenant, how are you feeling?"

In her mind Susan gave a detailed and coherent breakdown of how she felt. She spoke about the tenderness in her side. She spoke about the mild headache and the dry mouth, which she suspected was from whatever anesthetic she'd been subjected to. She mentioned that she was cold because it didn't feel like she was wearing anything. She even spoke about her anger at her squad member for rushing off on his own during their mission on Ontarom which had led to her getting stabbed.

What actually came out of her mouth was significantly less coherent.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant," the far away voice said. "The sedative effects will wear off soon." A face appeared in her vision. Not so far away, then.

It was a kind, matronly face. Black hair laced with gray piled into a bun atop an oval face lined with age and concern. She looked at Susan with exhausted but kindly eyes.

"Are you feeling any pain?"

"N-no," Susan managed after two attempts at speaking. "Side… kind of tender."

The woman nodded. "That's not surprising after what you've been through."

"Am I on the _Salvador_?"

"Yes. You've just been through five hours of surgery. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Ontarom," Susan said. "Phantom got me. I remember… Marx was there. She told me mission was done, that the shuttles were coming. That's it."

"It was close, but you're going to be fine," said the lady. Her voice felt like it was getting further again. Susan nodded and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again things were much clearer. The lights in the med bay no longer felt so piercing or harsh. The headache was gone. She sat up and looked around. The med bay was over twice the size of the _Antietam_'s. She occupied one of eight beds. The others were empty. The only other person in the med bay was the older woman who'd spoken to her. She was typing away at a computer at a desk along the opposite wall. Susan assumed she was the ship's doctor.

She must have heard Susan sitting up. She turned and walked over to Susan with a compact medical scanner in hand.

"How long was I out?" Susan asked. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, adjusting the hospital gown as she did.

"About ten minutes since we last spoke. A little over seven hours after they got you back onboard."

"Seven hours?" Susan said. She brought a hand to her side, where the Phantom's blade had entered.

"You were in surgery for most of that time."

"Thank you, Doctor…?"

"Chung," said the woman. "But call me Flora."

"Thank you, Flora." Susan stretched experimentally. Her side felt a little tight but otherwise good. "How bad was it?"

Doctor Chung brought her omni-tool to bear and displayed a holographic scan of Susan's wound. "It's a miracle the blade didn't puncture any organs," she said. "T he blade penetrated at an angle. If it had gone straight in we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"I was trying to dodge aside," Susan said.

"That probably saved your life. The topically applied medi-gel from your suit also prevented more major blood loss. All in all you were very fortunate."

Susan continued testing her movement as she took in the news. She'd come close to death on missions before but that had been one of the closest calls. She'd never been one to angst about death but it was still a sobering thought.

"Am I cleared for duty?"

Doctor Chung frowned as she dismissed the hologram. "Ideally, you'd be off active duty for at least two weeks," she said. "Even with all our medical advances that was still major trauma you suffered."

Susan's face must have reflected her feelings.

"But then these are hardly ideal times we live in," Chung continued. She ran the scanner over Susan and checked the results on her omni-tool readout. Nodding in satisfaction she went back to her desk and entered some figures before returning to Susan. "I'm clearing you for light duty for the next two days."

"Light duty?"

"Yes. If there are no other complications or developments during that time, I'll clear you for active duty." Chung sighed. "This war is straining everybody to the limit."

"Does this mean I'm free to go?" Susan said.

"Yes." Chung cocked her head at Susan. "I'd tell you to take it easy for the next week, but something tells me that wouldn't accomplish much."

She nodded to the foot of Susan's bed. A fresh duty uniform lay folded on the small table there. Boots in her size were on the floor next to it. Susan started slipping into the clothes gratefully. There was something about wearing hospital gowns that made her feel helpless.

"I'll try," she said to Chung. "I can't promise anything with everything going on in the Verge right now, but I'll try."

Chung smiled at her. It was a smile filled with gratitude, hope, concern, and sorrow.

"If you experience any pain or discomfort come see me again immediately."

"I will. Thank you again, Doctor."

"Thank me by staying safe," Chung said.

* * *

Exiting the med bay Susan felt a sense of… discomfort. She realized she was a little rattled by her brush with death. She stood still in the corridor outside the med bay and closed her eyes. She started to relive the moment when the Phantom stabbed but forced herself not to. _That won't accomplish anything right now_, she told herself.

She took a deep breath and tried to figure out what she was feeling right now. There was fear and shock from that confrontation with her own mortality. Stemming from that was deep relief, almost euphoria, that she was alive. She realized she was also angry. She was angry at herself for being wounded, even though she knew rationally that was foolish. She was more angry at Elijah Wu for charging off on his own and leaving her to get triple-teamed by Cerberus agents.

Susan put a hand to her side where the blade had pierced her though her armor. Her armor… She decided to check on it and do repairs and maintenance. That would give her something to keep her mind occupied. She pushed the flurry of emotions within her aside and headed for the lift.

Susan passed crew members on duty and called the lift. She was used to assignments on frigates like the _Antietam_. Before the Reapers N7 teams had mostly been used for black ops and top secret missions. That typically meant deployment by smaller and more agile vessels. It also meant a great deal more walking to get anywhere onboard a cruiser like the _Salvador_. She stretched idly as she waited, working out the tightness in her side.

The lift ride also took longer than aboard a frigate and opened into a corridor rather than directly into the shuttle bay. The greater amount of space also meant the shuttle bay and armory were separate rooms. Susan headed to the armory entrance and signed in with her omni-tool. The system beeped as it acknowledged her and opened the door.

Lisa Marx's voice greeted her as the doors slid open and she took a step in. "… that you're not trying to eat her face," she was saying mockingly. Susan stopped in her tracks. Lisa was leaning against a table with her arms crossed. Stein and Ackland, the Grissom Academy trainees, stood apart from each other near a row of lockers. Both practically glowed red with embarrassment. The sound of the opening doors caught their attention and all three turned to Susan as she stood there trying to place what she'd just heard in a context.

"Look who walks among the living!" Lisa said. "Good to see you up and around."

The Grissom trainees saluted her, both looking even more embarrassed than ever.

"Do I want to know what's going on?" Susan asked.

"Nothing, ma'am!" Ackland answered quickly.

Lisa sniggered. "I walked in on these lovebirds 'fraternizing,'" she said. They both turned even more red, which Susan hadn't thought was still possible.

"Don't be too hard on them," Susan found herself saying. "There's enough misery in this war that's worth taking the little joys when we- wait. What does that have to do with eating faces?"

"Oh, that." Lisa chuckled. "Lover boy here needed some pointers on his… technique."

Susan winced at the mental images. "Okay, I'm sorry I asked."

Lisa laughed again. "Oh, I'm just teasing them."

"Right…"

"Lieutenants, permission to withdraw?" said Stein. He and Ackland had pleading expressions on their faces.

"For future reference, you should be aware that the armory is not a particularly private place to investigate each other's tonsils," Lisa said.

Susan winced. "Thank you _so_ much for that mental image."

"Dismissed," Lisa said as she waved a hand. Stein and Ackland practically sprinted from the room. "Have fun, you two!" she called as they fled.

"You are a terrible person," Susan said. She tried to hold a snigger back and failed. She burst out laughing and Lisa joined her.

"I know! Did you see their faces?!" That brought a fresh wave of laughter. When they'd both quieted down Lisa looked at Susan with curiosity. "So what brought you down here? I thought you'd still be in the med bay."

"Doctor Chung cleared me for light duty," Susan said. She shrugged. "I thought I'd repair my armor. It'd give me something to do."

"Do you need something to do? Why not take it easy after nearly becoming a shish-kebob?"

Susan hesitated. "I… well; I've never really been comfortable having nothing to do."

Lisa arched an eyebrow at her. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news then," she said.

"What?"

"Chief Thomas already repaired your armor."

"Oh. That was fast."

"I called in a favor," Lisa said. "I didn't know you'd want to do it for yourself."

Susan mustered up a smile. "That's alright." She paused. "Not to seem ungrateful, and I do appreciate it, but… why?"

"Well… call it an apology of sorts." Lisa shifted. "If I'd gotten that sniper faster then maybe that wouldn't have happened," She said with a nod at Susan's side.

"No, it's not your fault," Susan said. "You have nothing to apologize for." Yet even as she spoke those words to Lisa Marx the embers of her anger reignited. There _was_ somebody she considered at fault, somebody she wanted an apology from.

"Okay, if not an apology," Lisa said, "call it… a celebration then."

Now it was Susan's turn to arch an eyebrow.

"For me," Lisa clarified. "For finally getting a mission where the entire squad extracts alive."

"So you had my armor repaired?"

"It's like an investment."

"What?"

"Look, you know what you're doing in the field," Lisa said. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the table. A partially disassembled Avenger rested on the table, various tools sprawled alongside it. "That's sort of been a rarity with squad mates for me. So anything I can do to help you get better can only be a good thing for me. And we need all the skilled operatives we can get."

Susan nodded. "Thanks again. I do appreciate it." She left the armory and headed for the lift, fiddling with her omni-tool. Lisa followed her.

"Where are you going now?"

"I'm going to have a 'chat' with Wu," Susan said. She surprised herself with the anger in her voice.

"Is this the kind of chat that involves punching?" Lisa said as she hurried to catch up to Susan.

"Why? Are you going to stop me?"

"No, I'll hold him down for you."

Susan halted and looked at Lisa. She looked sincere.

"Why would you do that?"

Lisa shrugged. "That guy's an asshole. He deserves a beating." She saw Susan's look and added, "He left both of us down there. That could have been me the Phantom got down there."

Susan nodded and returned to locating Wu with her omni-tool. She called the lift as she saw he was several decks away. "I'm not actually planning to get into a brawl, you know."

"Sure you aren't."

* * *

They found Elijah Wu in the crew quarters by himself. He sat in one of the common areas typing up a post-mission report. He glanced up as Susan and Lisa entered the room, then dismissed them and returned his attention to the screen before him. He didn't pay them any attention until they both stood beside his table over him.

"Lieutenant Rizzi, Lieutenant Marx," Wu said. "How may I help you?"

"Lieutenant Wu, a word if you please?" Susan said as she assumed a formal stance. _If you want to be all formal about this, I can play that game too_.

"I suspect this may be more than one word," he said. He folded his computer screen down and stood up to face them with an apathetic look on his face. "What is it?"

"What the hell was that about on Ontarom?" Susan said. She hadn't intended to be so blunt, but Wu's indifference dug deeper than she'd anticipated.

"Could you be more specific?"

"I'm _specifically_ talking about you charging off on your own and leaving squad members unsupported!"

"You're angry about being WIA? That comes with our job." Wu said. His apathy was driving Susan's simmering anger to a boil.

"I'm angry because it was completely avoidable if you'd stayed with the squad!"

"I chose to pursue the mission objective."

"And I made a call about that objective," Susan snarled. "We could have done that as a unit! With no stupid risks!"

"I disagreed with your call, and I remind you that you don't outrank me."

"Screw the ranks! That's how we do things! As a unit! Working together!"

"And things worked out," Wu said with that implacable calm. "You kept enemy assets occupied that would otherwise have been covering the objective."

"Oh I kept enemies _occupied_? Is that what you call it? If you'd stayed with us we could have _neutralized_ those 'assets' and accomplished the mission without friendly casualties!" Susan became aware of how close she'd moved to him during the argument.

"Casualties are the one constant in this war." Wu's eyes narrowed. "If you can't handle yourself out there Lieutenant, don't blame me."

Even as the words left his lips his eyes flashed with sudden regret. It was too late. Before she could stop herself, before she was even consciously aware of what she was doing, Susan drove her fist into his mouth. The blow snapped his head to the side. A hurricane of emotions and thoughts blew through her mind in an instant. A part of her was horrified at her actions, anticipating the reports and the reprimands. Another part of her felt triumphant, vindicated, and fiercely satisfied. Another part prepared for the ensuing fight even as yet another part wondered if she could actually take him hand-to-hand after seeing some of his moves on Ontarom.

Wu turned his head back to her slowly as she felt the pressure cooker of her emotions subsiding. He had a hollow look in his eyes that threw Susan into another whirlwind of emotions. She felt she was seeing him, really seeing him without barriers, for the first time. She knew the quiet depths of the pain he'd just revealed. He just stood there without response to her blow. Finally he brought a hand up and rubbed his split lip. "I guess I had that coming."

Susan recognized the look in his eyes. She'd carried it herself for a week after the news about her brother. She felt a sudden moment of profound connection with the man she'd been so furious with a minute ago.

"Who did you lose?" she asked quietly.

"None of your business," Wu snapped. The walls were back up. He snatched his computer and stalked away. He stopped at the open door and turned back around. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about leaving you down there," he said with an expression of sadness. Then he was gone.

"That guy's got issues," Lisa said. Susan continued to stare at where Wu had last been, different feelings vying for supremacy within her. Part of her was still angry with him and his apathy. Another part wanted to draw him out of his shell, to dig at what afflicted him, while another part warned her to give him the distance and time. She sighed. _Why do things have to be so complicated?_

"Citadel to Rizzi," Lisa's voice broke into her thoughts. She started and turned to the Infiltrator, who was sitting on the table with an amused expression.

"Sorry, what?"

"I said, let's get a drink." Lisa jerked her head towards the mess hall. "A stiff one."

"From the mess hall?"

"Oh right, I forgot you haven't been on this ship long enough," Lisa said. "Chief Ahmed keeps a stash for us Special Ops teams. He just asks we don't parade it around in front of the regular crew."

Lisa exited the common room and Susan hurried to keep us. A strong drink sounded like a fine idea right then. "So have you served on the _Salvador_ long?" she asked as they walked up the corridor.

"Oh, about six missions now," Lisa said.

"So how many people know about this stash?"

"Not a lot." Lisa looked at Susan, a sad half-smile on her face. "I know why they call me 'The Widow.'"

Susan halted. "Oh Lisa, I'm sorry, I-"

"No, you've got nothing to apologize for." Lisa shook her head. "I would've saved them all if I could. Nobody wants to be the sole survivor on a mission." She sighed and started walking again. "Some things just aren't in your power."

She shot Susan a meaningful look.

"What?"

"Like changing certain… troubled Vanguards. Who use swords."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Susan said. She kept thinking about Wu and that look in his eyes.

"Sure you don't," Lisa said. "I know what you're thinking, and it doesn't always work like that. People aren't always that easy to fix." She gave Susan a look of curiosity. "And why do you care anyways? You just punched him. Now you want to make him better? He let you get stabbed down there."

"That's why I care," Susan said after a moment of thought. "We could end up deploying together again. Hell, with what's going on in the Verge we probably will. I don't want a repeat of what happened on Ontarom."

"You don't have to," Lisa said. "Even if he is an N7, there are a lot of other operatives out there."

"But getting less all the time," Susan said quietly. "The Reapers are chewing through us."

"You've got a point."

They continued walking up the corridor in silence for a minute.

"Maybe he just needs to get laid," Lisa said suddenly.

"What?"

"Mr. Swordsman," she said. "Maybe he just needs to get laid."

"I don't think that's the issue," Susan said.

"Ooh, maybe you should do it," Lisa continued, oblivious to Susan's response.

"I cannot believe I'm having this conversation."

"You two could have such angry sex!"

"We're not having angry sex!" Susan shouted. Two heads popped out of an adjoining corridor ahead of them. Susan recognized the Grissom trainees. "As you were," she said in her best stern authority voice. It was neither particularly stern nor authoritative at that moment. The heads flashed big smiles and disappeared.

Lisa chuckled. "Hey, you're the one that wants to solve his problems," she said.

"Not remotely what I meant," Susan said as they passed the corridor. Behind them the two heads reappeared. "He could be a liability to others and to himself, and we need everybody in top condition if we're going to win this."

"If you say so," Lisa said with a shrug. After another minute she smirked at Susan. "You know, he _is_ pretty good-looking."

"This conversation is over."

"You're both biotics," Lisa continued with a mischievous grin. "Isn't the sex supposed to be mind-blowing?"

"I'm going to biotically punch you through the wall if this conversation keeps going."

Lisa just laughed.


	8. Forging Connections

To Susan's mild surprise the mess hall was nearly empty. She and Lisa entered the large rectangular room and looked around. The only other person at one of the eight tables was Maiena K'Thane. The asari sat in a corner where she could keep an eye on all three entrances to the room.

Lisa led Susan behind the galley counter and opened a locked cabinet door by pressing her thumb to a reader. Susan whistled as she saw the contents.

"Where did Chief Ahmed get all this?" she asked as she surveyed the collection of liquors.

"He won't tell me," Lisa said with a grin, "But I suspect he knows some smugglers."

Susan nodded. "I won't complain." She reached in and selected a bottle of Eden Prime brandy. It was from Paradise Distillers, the foremost brand from the colony. The vintage label on the bottle read 2171, one of the finer years.

Lisa nodded. "Good choice," she said. "I never noticed that one."

"I almost feel guilty drinking this."

"Don't. Just celebrate being alive."

"I can live with that," Susan said as she grabbed three glasses.

"Double-fisting?" Lisa said.

Susan shook her head and leaned over the counter, looking back at the mess hall. "I wonder if K'Thane wants a drink."

Lisa looked skeptical. "She doesn't seem to like humans much. Also, she didn't exactly support us on Ontarom either."

"Maybe she'll tell us why if we ask her nicely."

Lisa snorted. "What? Not going to punch it out of her?"

"She _is_ an asari commando," Susan said. "You go first."

"Ply her with booze it is."

"Besides, maybe she'll work with us more next time if we make the effort to approach her now."

"You are such an optimist."

Susan carried the glasses and bottle over to K'Thane's table. She saw them coming and half-stood before Susan waved her back down. "Wait, please," Susan said. "We'd like you to have a drink with us."

K'Thane sat back down reluctantly. _It's a start_, Susan thought. She sat down on the bench opposite K'Thane. Lisa sat down as well, looking no more pleased than K'Thane. K'Thane shoved her half-eaten meal aside.

"What do you want?"

"Like I said, to have a drink with you." Susan set the glasses out and uncorked the bottle.

"And to find out why you're such a bitch," Lisa said.

Susan buried her face in her palm. "Smooth, Marx, real smooth."

"You have spirit, I'll grant you," K'Thane said with a laugh. "Perhaps I will share a drink with you after all."

Susan poured a measure of the brandy into each glass. "While Lieutenant Marx here is a tad… overly blunt, we are a little curious why you don't associate with anybody onboard."

"And why you're such a bad team player," Lisa added.

"There's that bluntness," Susan said.

K'Thane looked back and forth between them before picking up her glass delicately and sniffing the contents. She took a sip and nodded in appreciation before finally responding.

"This is much better than I expected on a human warship."

Lisa shot Susan an exasperated look.

"See?" Susan said. "Not everything about us is so unbearable."

"Is this going to be a lecture on the greatness of humanity?" K'Thane said.

"No, this is us trying to befriend you."

"This is _her_ trying to befriend you," Lisa said as she tilted her head towards Susan. She held up her glass. "I'm just here for the booze."

"I appreciate your honesty," K'Thane said to Lisa. She turned to Susan. "And why do you wish to befriend me?"

"You're not making this easy, you know," Susan said.

"I believe you humans have a saying about how things worth doing are seldom easy?"

Susan sighed. _Why _am_ I doing this? _She pondered the question for a moment.

"Well, why are you here?"

"Upon this vessel?"

"I mean why you're doing what you're doing in this war."

"To fight the Reapers," K'Thane said. "I trust I don't need to explain why they require fighting against?"

"Exactly," Susan said. "We're fighting the Reapers. But it's more than fighting against the Reapers, isn't it? And it's about more than the preservation of organic life. It's about fighting for our ways of life, all of them."

K'Thane continued gazing at Susan.

"Think about the forms of the Reaper troops we face," Susan said. "Humans corrupted to husks, batarians to Marauders, even asari to Banshees." K'Thane shuddered at that last mention. "Think about what makes them different from us," Susan continued. "What they've lost."

"Choice," K'Thane said with a nod. "Will, individuality."

"That which really makes us _us_," Susan said. "That's what we're fighting for."

"I still fail to see why you wish to befriend me," K'Thane said.

"Because one good thing that's come of this war is that it's shown us our potential when we work together."

"You sound like Commander Shepard," K'Thane said as she took another sip.

"And look what he's managed to do," Susan said. "Look what his crew has accomplished. And by all reports they're with him because they choose to be, because they're his friends."

"That is a… particularly human viewpoint," K'Thane said. "Impetuous and short-sighted."

Susan shrugged. "If you say so. Let me turn it around then," she said. "Why are you so reluctant to get to know us?"

K'Thane crossed her arms. "Do you believe that I will share my life's tale with you after a single drink? That I will bare all to be analyzed and dissected by you?"

"It's worked before."

"Not with me."

Lisa leaned in. "Fine then. Why didn't you work with us on Ontarom?" she said.

"I did work with you on Ontarom. I secured one of the facility's flanks."

"I mean why not actually work with us? As a unit?"

K'Thane hesitated. "Asari huntresses are often trained to work alone, especially when among other species."

"Things are different now," Lisa said. "You try to be a lone ranger; you get people hurt or killed. Like last mission."

"Do you blame me for your injury?" K'Thane asked Susan.

She thought about the question for a minute, organizing her thoughts.

"Not as much as I blame Wu," she said. "But I'm not happy about the fact that you spent that mission doing your own thing. We really could have used your help down there." Susan realized she was rubbing her wound. "We can do more if we work together. Just think about it."

K'Thane remained motionless for a long moment, just gazing at Susan. She told herself she wasn't punching any more people today. Finally, K'Thane finished her drink and set the glass on the table before her.

"I am sorry if my actions led to your wounding," she said. "I will think on what you said. Thank you for the drink." She stood up and left the hall, taking the remains of her meal with her.

"That accomplished a lot," Lisa said as she swirled her glass.

"That could have been worse," Susan said. "She said she'd think about it."

"Is it too much to ask, just once, for a squad made up of competent, sane, _well-adjusted_ individuals?!" Lisa said, her volume rising with each word. She downed the contents of her glass and looked at Susan. "Present company excluded."

"It's nice to know I fit into those categories."

Susan finished her drink and sat there in silence for another minute, her mind turning. She saw the hollow look in Elijah Wu's eyes again and made a decision. Getting up she went to the counter to grab another glass.

Lisa Marx watched her actions. On Susan's way back to the table comprehension dispelled the curiosity on her face. She gave Susan a crooked grin and poured herself another measure before holding the bottle out to Susan.

"You _are_ going to screw him, aren't you?"

"No," Susan said firmly as she snatched the bottle. "I'm going to talk to him. No screwing involved."

"Riiight," Lisa said as she leaned back against the table on her elbows. The grin didn't leave her face. "Let me know how the angry sex is."

"I'm not dignifying that with a response," Susan said as she left the mess hall in search of the Vanguard.

* * *

Susan found Wu alone in the starboard observation lounge. She momentarily wondered how he always managed to be alone aboard a warship, but then thought about the distance and apathy he cultivated with others. _I guess it's not that surprising people leave him alone_, she thought.

He stood facing the window with his back to the door when Susan entered. He didn't turn around. She started approaching him-

"You get one," he said suddenly without turning around. Susan twitched in surprise and confusion. What was he talking about?

"Come again?" she said. "You might have me mistaken for somebody else."

"You get one free blow," Wu repeated. He still didn't turn around. "The next one you try, I'll respond."

Susan paused for a second and then realized he must have spotted her reflection. She cleared her throat. "No punching this time," she said. "I'm actually here to apologize about that."

"Why?" he said still staring out the window. "You could say I deserved that one."

"It was immature and inappropriate," Susan said. "We… got off to a bad start. I'd like to wipe the slate blank on that one."

Wu finally turned around. He looked down at the glasses in Susan's hand.

"What's this?"

"Consider it a peace offering," Susan said. She smiled and held one of the glasses toward Wu. He took it after a moment of hesitation.

"Brandy?" he said after he sniffed the glass.

"Eden Prime."

"Where did you get this?"

"The mess hall."

Wu's eyebrows shot up. "You're joking."

"Nope. If you want the full story, talk to Marx."

Wu snorted and shook his head. "I don't think she wants to talk to me."

"Well, you haven't exactly been the shining model of sociability," Susan pointed out. "Which is something you could change, you know."

"And why do you want to talk to me?" he asked before taking a sip. "Especially since I let you get stabbed last mission…"

"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor," Susan said, quoting an old proverb.

"Ecclesiastes," Wu said. "I know it. Pretty words. How do you see them applying to us?"

"You could interpret it as… enlightened self-interest," Susan said. "The better we work together, the more likely we are to survive mission deployments together."

"And what's that worth?" Wu said. His face was a stoic mask on the verge of cracking.

"Surviving?"

"Yes. What's survival worth in a universe where the Reapers are intent on wiping us all out?"

"What's the alternative?" Susan said. "Giving up? Letting them kill us all? You must have something to live for."

"Yes. To kill as many of the bastards I can."

"You sound like you hate them."

"Damn right I hate them!" Wu's sudden vehemence caught Susan off guard. "It's all I have left," he said more quietly. It sounded oddly like a plea. "My hatred and my anger."

That hollow look was back in Wu's eyes. Susan took a step closer to him without realizing it.

"Who did you lose?" she asked again.

His eyes snapped shut and he took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't want to talk about it."

"It's not good to bottle all that up."

"What do you know about it?" Wu said angrily.

"I know." Susan swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She felt the surge of emotions and memory that came with the news of her brother's death and let it wash through her. She let herself feel the grief and the pain, but also the joys of the times they'd had together.

Wu looked at her, really looked at her. Susan thought of a Cerberus turret locking on. He took a step back and gave her the smallest nod. "Maybe you do," he said. His voice came out a rasp.

"I lost my brother," Susan said. She decided to take the chance. "For a while I thought the pain would never go away. It still hurts, but… I can live with it. He wouldn't have wanted me to always be miserable."

Wu continued gazing at her, the conflict within him clear.

"I won't ask you to share anything you don't want to," she told him. "I just want you to know that if you ever want to talk about anything, I'm here. I'll listen."

The conflict on his face eased at her reassurance. Wu closed his eyes for a long moment and then looked down at the floor before swinging his gaze back up.

"I… I'm not in a place where I can really appreciate that offer right now," he said. "But it means something that you made it."

"Sure," Susan said. "Take whatever time you need."

She held the bottle of brandy up, a questioning expression on her face. Wu nodded and held his glass up.

"Why do you carry a sword?" she asked as she refilled both their drinks. Wu looked nonplussed by her sudden change of topic. "If you don't want to talk about it…"

"No no," Wu said. "Actually I get asked that quite often. Look, you've been through the ICA's specialized training right?" He was referring to the Interplanetary Combatives Academy in Rio de Janeiro where N7s did part of their training.

"Yes," Susan said. "Fury specialization. You went through the Slayer training, right?"

"Yeah. You know how they were goofy about some things?"

Susan nodded, thinking about some of her instructors and how they'd taught visualizations for activating Annihilation Fields. "Is the sword some kind of focus or implement for your biotics?"

"Yeah," Wu said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We did sword training as our physical mnemonics for different biotic techniques. I found I liked it and stuck with it."

"Heh, you 'stuck' with the sword training?" Wu didn't look amused. "Sorry."

"Biotic Slashes release too much energy to channel through our bodies," he explained. "The swords have circuits and capacitors built into them to help contain that charge."

"Sort of like our Fury hoods," Susan said. Wu appeared notably more at ease discussing such technical matters.

"Is that what they're for? I've always wondered about them myself."

"They help with our Annihilation Fields." She smiled. "Not quite as stylish as a sword."

"They're useful up close as well," Wu said. "Some things you don't want to punch, you know?"

Susan thought back to the first time she'd punched through a Ravager's sac. "That's true."

"I also find people were more willing to surrender to it," he said. "You'd be surprised how many pirates and mercs are unfazed by guns but utterly intimidated by a piece of sharpened metal."

"I can understand why," Susan said as she touched her wound. Wu looked at her and a wave of guilt washed over his face.

"I'm sorry about Ontarom."

Susan brought a hand up. "It's okay," she said. "Everybody lived, and that's what really counts, isn't it?"

"You're also right. We can do more working together. I'll… work on that."

"That's all anybody's asking," Susan said. She paused, and then smiled. "There. You just had a conversation with somebody. That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

Before Wu could reply their omni-tools pinged. "Special Ops team, report to the CIC," Captain Banafsheh's voice sounded from both their tools.

"On our way," said Susan.

* * *

A planet rotated slowly on the holographic map as Susan and Wu arrived in the CIC. K'Thane and Marx were already standing by Banafsheh. Susan was surprised; they were talking together quietly. Banafsheh looked up from the data pad in her hand.

"Good, you're here." She nodded to the map. "Let's get started. This is Otte, a colonized world in the Brahe system." She shifted the view to a city layout. "This is Touchdown City, the primary population center of Otte."

"How many people are we talking about?" asked Lisa.

"Estimated population was eighty-three thousand. They are all concentrated near the spaceport section of the city right now for evacuation. That's where we come in."

"Not to point out the geth in a dark room, but the _Salvador_ can't carry eighty-thousand refugees," Lisa said.

"Fortunately Command thought of that too. We're not the only ones taking part in this evacuation, we're just assisting. There are a dozen other cruisers and freighters already there or on their way now. We're getting everybody we can out of there ASAP."

The N7s glanced at each other. "Dare I ask why?" Susan said.

"Based on projections and their observed movement in the Verge, there's a better than fifty percent chance the Reapers will attack Otte within the next week. We can't just leave more than eighty-thousand people to them."

"With a population concentration like that," said K'Thane, "wouldn't the Reapers just destroy it from orbit?"

"That's what we would have expected," Banafsheh said. "But it doesn't match their behavior so far in the Verge. They're taking every opportunity they can get to harvest populations. Intelligence suggests they may be rebuilding ground troop counts."

Susan recognized the unspoken reality underlying the evacuation. This was just as much about denying the Reapers access to the population of Otte as it was a humanitarian mission. The Alliance could ill afford eighty-thousand people harvested and turned into Reaper troops.

"The good news," Banafsheh said, "is that shuttle flights are going around-the-clock. At this rate the evacuation should be complete within three days. The Reapers shouldn't be in-system for another six. Nevertheless, we want ground assets present just in case."

"What is our role here?" K'Thane said.

"You'll be joining multiple other Special Ops teams and marine forces in Touchdown City." Banafsheh highlighted several parts of the city that formed a rough ring around the spaceport. "They're setting up a perimeter around the spaceport. Major Hadra has overall command."

"Has there been any hostile activity recorded in the region?" Wu asked. He and Lisa were both studying the city layout intensely.

"Negative. With any luck that will hold true for the evacuation and the most you'll all have to do is direct civilian traffic to the evac zones."

Lisa shook her head as she looked at the map. "A large-scale evacuation in a dense urban zone with Reapers on the way. What could possibly go wrong?"


	9. The Evacuation of Otte

"REPEAT, SECTOR FIVE IS LOST! WE ARE UP TO OUR NECKS IN REAPER TR-" The panicked transmission cut out suddenly to the roaring shrieks of Ravager shots and Susan Rizzi winced. There wasn't time to do anything else. The Cannibal a meter away lunged towards her, its jaw distending even as its flesh dissolved in her Annihilation Field. She met its attack with a Biotic Throw and triggered a blast that tore apart the Cannibal and the husk right behind it. A Marauder poked up from behind the counter it was crouching behind and Elijah Wu slammed into it with a Biotic Charge before decapitating the harvested turian.

"Clear!" Wu called once he checked the kitchen of the diner they'd just fought through. Rizzi sagged down, exhausted. The Otte evacuation was not going according to plan. Two days into the evacuation the Reapers had arrived, as Intelligence had put it, "ahead of schedule". _Ahead of schedule_, Rizzi thought bitterly. _Like they'd showed up early for a tea party before the snacks were ready._

The last nineteen hours had been a grueling marathon of combat as Reaper forces hurled themselves wave after wave at the perimeter around Touchdown City. Rizzi had expended more energy than she could ever remember in such a window of time. Alliance forces were fighting their hardest to hold Reaper troops back from the terrified civilians waiting for evacuation at the spaceport. The outermost sectors of the city were already lost; now squads were playing deadly games of cat and mouse in and around the densely packed buildings of the city.

Major Hadra's steely voice directed reinforcements to Sector Five, which didn't have a direct impact on Rizzi's squad which was holding Sector Three. The blasted section had been a residential zone full of apartment blocks and the associated buildings of urban life: restaurants, shops, and recreation centers. A day of intense battle had reduced the smaller buildings to so much rubble and the larger ones to empty shells.

The diner Rizzi and Wu occupied sat on one side of a large plaza in Sector Three. They'd cleared three similar buildings in the last ten minutes. The plaza itself formed a natural bottleneck for the roads leading deeper into the city. That fact made it imperative they hold it.

"Nothing out here," Lisa Marx said. She was across the plaza in a tall apartment building putting its elevation advantage to good use. To Rizzi's surprise Maiena K'Thane was staying close to Marx, acting as spotter and close quarters defense. At Marx's report both Rizzi and Wu collapsed into diner seats, grateful for the respite. Gunfire, faint and distant, testified that not all the sectors were clear.

Rizzi reached up and removed her faceplate, seeing Wu do the same. They looked at each other tiredly. Wu had apparently taken what she'd said on the _Salvador _to heart: he'd stayed close and worked with the squad so far. She brought out one of the small packets of concentrated nutrients issued to biotics with a grimace. She'd never liked the sludge-like texture or the flavors. She tore the packet open and squeezed the contents into her mouth. The label said it was orange flavored, but in truth she hadn't been able to taste anything other than the sharp tang of adrenaline on her tongue for the last six hours.

"I hate these things," she said.

Wu nodded. "Give me real food any day." Rizzi caught herself staring at him. He looked tired of course, but that wasn't what stood out to her. He seemed more… alive somehow, after a day of combat, than he did on the _Salvador_. Wu grimaced as he swallowed his own nutrient gel and looked at the label. "Do these things ever taste like what they claim to you?"

Rizzi shook her head as she checked her weapon. Wu wiped a smear of blood off his faceplate. They sat there in silence for a moment before their comms crackled to life.

"Sector Three, come in," said Major Hadra.

"This is Sector Three," Wu said.

"We have a civilian convoy driving up Solar Boulevard towards the spaceport. They're about five minutes away from your position, and scans read Reaper forces closing in on them. Rendezvous and escort them past your position. Hold hostiles at that plaza."

"Yes sir."

Rizzi hauled herself to her to her feet as she locked her faceplate into place. "Once more unto the breach," she said.

"Heads up," Marx said. "I see that convoy. Looks like three vehicles, wheeled. Cargo haulers of some kind."

"Direction and distance?" Wu asked.

"Straight down the road to your west, call it… half a kilometer and closing."

"We're on our way," Rizzi said as they started moving down the road. "You got a clear field of fire from there?"

"Good enough."

"Stay there and cover us." Rizzi couldn't see far as the road was cluttered with abandoned vehicles, wrecks, and debris.

"I've got hostile movement here," Marx said. "Closing in on the convoy from nearby buildings." Her Widow roared, its crack echoing down the street. "They're slowing down… oh, damn. There's a bunch of wrecks blocking the road ahead."

"I see it," Rizzi said. It looked like six vehicles had collided, piled one on another, and then burst into flames, their charred carcasses straddling the road. She couldn't even see over the top of the wrecks.

Marx's rifle roared again. "They're bringing out the big stuff. I see at least three Brutes moving towards that convoy."

"Any ideas?" Wu said as they ran up to the wrecks. They could hear the convoy engines approaching on the other side followed by brakes.

"As a matter of fact I do," Rizzi said. "Stand back." She walked to the center of the road as Wu stepped away. She took a deep breath and activated her Annihilation Field.

She'd always thought the title of 'Fury' for her special adept training had been an inside joke. Of all the military specializations the Alliance fielded the Furies could least afford to give in to mindless rage. The Annihilation Fields they employed were incredibly dangerous without the proper control. The Field itself was just a tightly focused and localized Spatial Distortion effect that tore things apart at the molecular level. That part was simple enough.

No, the real trick to the Annihilation Field was _not_ making it annihilate absolutely everything around her all of the time. And that took a focus bordering on a zen state, where she could maintain the effect while shaping the Field on a nearly subconscious level to only affect what she wanted to. Rizzi had spent over a month in training unintentionally dissolving obstacles and dummies until she'd mastered herself.

Now she forced herself to release that control. It felt wrong, like trying to do calligraphy with her off hand or typing with her toes. She consciously extended the field out to its full extent and dropped her mental barriers on its effects. Then she moved to the barrier formed by the wrecks. The effect was immediate.

The Field extended in a hemisphere several meters around her. It started flaying the charred vehicles apart everywhere they came into contact. Flakes of metal, plastic, and ceramics drifted loose from their structures before the Field rendered those down into pieces too small for the eye to see. She kept moving, pushing the Annihilation Field further into the wrecks and dissolving a path through.

The Field demanded all her concentration when used like this. Dimly she heard Wu yelling at the colonists on the other side and their panicked responses. It took nearly a minute to shear through all the wreckage and when she finally finished carving the path she dismissed the Field with a relieved gasp. The two refugees in the lead vehicle's control cabin looked at her in amazement.

"Go!" she shouted at them. "Keep following this road past the plaza to the spaceport! Hurry!"

She stepped to the side to clear the path. The driver needed no more encouragement and gunned the engine, sending the rectangular transport forward. Rizzi heard shouts of relief and hope from inside. The other two transports followed quickly just in time. The cries of approaching Reaper troops echoed from nearby buildings.

"You've got incoming," Marx said. "Cannibals with Marauder support from the left. Brute's coming from behind that shop to your right." A shot rang out. "Scratch one Cannibal."

Rizzi fell back behind the wreckage. She wished she could plug the path she'd carved but there was no time. Wu crouched behind the wreckage on one side of the opening, his pistol out as he covered her.

"That was impressive," he said. Rizzi felt a burst of irrational pride and forced it aside.

"I don't think I could do that again," she said. "Not without eating an entire boar and sleeping for a week."

"I've never had boar before," Wu said. Rizzi snapped her head to him. "Never mind. I must be more tired than I thought."

"If we get out of this alive, we'll have boar," Rizzi said as she activated her Annihilation Field with familiar constraints. "There was this restaurant back on Earth that-" She stopped. "We'll find it somehow. Maybe the Citadel has some."

Wu didn't respond. Something in his posture, some… intangible shift in the atmosphere, told her the mention of Earth had just triggered something in him. The cries of the Reaper troops grew louder.

"They're right on top of you!" Marx said. The first shots tore ragged little holes through the wreckage. The next ones soared through the gap. As soon as the volley stopped Rizzi swung out of cover and hit the Cannibal charging through the path with a Biotic Throw. It flew backwards with its skull crushed by the bolt of force. Three other Cannibals took its place.

"Mine," Wu said. His voice was a snarl that chilled Susan. His sword was already glowing in his hand as he stepped from cover. A round hit his personal barriers and drew no reaction. He swung the sword, unleashing a biotic wave that rippled down the gap in the wreckage and shredded the Cannibals. Several other Reaper troops attempted to overrun the gap but were cut down by Rizzi and Wu's combined biotics.

It went quiet abruptly. Rizzi and Wu both peeked down the gap. Only corpses greet them.

"Marx?" Rizzi said. "Can you see anything?"

"No. It looks like they pulled ba- Wait. There's a Brute coming up on that wreckage from the right. I don't have a shot."

They heard the clatter of metallic claws nearby. Rizzi focused her biotics, ready for the beast to show itself through the gap. There was a crash from the right, and then the wrecks on that side of the road started shaking. The loud noise of claws punching through metal sounded several times. Rizzi's eyes widened as she realized the Brute was climbing over the barrier.

"Back!" she called. Rizzi and Wu tumbled backwards in biotic blinks as one of the stacked wrecks flipped over and landed where they'd just been. The Brute leapt over the barricade with a roar. Its claws punched holes in the pavement as it landed and sprang forward.

Rizzi and Wu each dodged to one side of the charging Brute. It skidded to a halt, trying to reorient on one of them, and then staggered as Marx put a Widow round into it. Rizzi hit the Brute with a channeled warp effect and moved closer as Wu put a Phase Disrupter blast into its leg.

"Rizzi, behind you," K'Thane said. The Fury spun around to see a dozen husks swarming out of the building closest to her. She sprinted towards them, blinking into the midst of the pack to catch as many of them in her Annihilation Field as possible. She hit the closest husk with a Throw to trigger a biotic blast that knocked down its neighbors, and followed up with methodic Throws against active husks, triggering chains of biotic explosions.

Her breath came in deep gasps by the time she realized the husks were all dead and dismembered. The Brute was down too when she turned back to it. Wu had just finished sheathing his sword. Several deep slashes marred the Brute's arms and head while holes the size of her fist showed where Marx's sniper fire landed.

"What happened to the other attackers?" Wu said. Rizzi waved a hand at the husk remnants. "What about the Cannibals?"

"I didn't see any when that Brute showed up," Rizzi said. "They might have-"

"Get out of there," Marx interjected. "I've got movement all around those buildings surrounding you! A lot of movement!"

The two biotics started retreating back up the street. As if they knew the surprise was gone, the hunting calls of Reaper troops filled the air. They were many, loud, and close.

A pair of Cannibals burst out of a ruined building front onto the street twenty meters away, spraying with their arm cannons. The armor plating covering their distended bodies showed they'd been busy feasting on corpses. The left Cannibal dropped when Marx burst its head with a Widow round. Rizzi knocked the other back with a Throw and Wu put three rounds into it before it could rise.

"Keep going!" Marx said. The cries grew louder and weapon fire lanced in from ruined buildings as more Cannibals, husks, and Marauders poured out and rushed up the street. Their numbers grew by the moment and Rizzi and Wu found themselves forced back, keeping low and using whatever over they could. Whenever foes approached too closely they unleashed biotics to drive them back and retreated again towards the plaza.

"Command, this is Sector Five!" Rizzi heard Marx reporting at one point. "We have a Reaper assault coming towards the plaza, estimate company level strength or better!"

"Copy that," Major Hadra said. "Reinforcements are en route to your position. Hold that plaza, Lieutenant! We lose that; the Reapers will have a path straight to the spaceport."

"They'd better get here fast, sir!"

Rizzi lost track of the fight as the Reaper troops kept attacking. Her world compressed itself to targets and focusing on her biotics. There was no end to the stream of Cannibals and husks pouring out of buildings and charging up the street.

She popped up from behind a wrecked car and threw a biotic pulse to hurl back a husk clambering over another wreck towards her position. A form slid next to her from behind. Her biotics still cooling down, she brought her weapon around-

It was Maiena K'Thane. Encased in glowing orange tech armor, the asari had her own Annihilation Field active as she gave Rizzi a nod and signaled her to cover the right. Rizzi blinked to a pile of debris next to a blasted building. K'Thane reached over the car and snatched a Cannibal that had just run up to it. The commando grappled it to her feet and crushed its head with a biotically empowered punch.

Rizzi spun out of cover and blinked to a Marauder directing nearby Cannibals in its gurgling tongue. She floored it with a biotic blast and flung herself behind a nearby wall as the Cannibals fired at her. The Marauder pushed itself up with one arm- or tried to as the arm shattered and dissolved under the influence of her aura. Rizzi stayed in place as the Marauder collapsed to the ground once more and disintegrated.

A blur slammed a Cannibal into Rizzi's aura where it started falling apart. It was Wu, and he hit the nearest group of enemies with a Phase Disrupter blast before laying in with his sword. Rizzi hit a Cannibal rushing up behind him with a Throw. A second later Wu returned the favor by Charging a husk coming up behind Rizzi.

Rizzi couldn't get a sense of the ebb and flow of the bigger battle. There were too many enemies vying for immediate attention. Each foe she dropped was replaced by another. She found herself giving ground bit by bit as every time she waited for her biotics to recharge, every time she took cover to allow her barriers time to recharge, the Reaper forces advanced just a little more.

"Hold this position!" K'Thane said. Rizzi blasted a husk off her and looked around. She was back in the plaza. When had that happened? She cursed as she saw the mass of Reaper troops pressing in. The hulking forms of three Brutes stood out like dreadnoughts among cruisers. They charged, flinging aside wreckage, debris, and even smaller troops in their way.

What followed was a blur to Rizzi. She blinked between Cannibals and husks, annihilating them with her biotics. They scattered as Brutes hurled themselves at them. She and Wu kept a Brute staggered with repeated biotic blasts as he Charged it again and again from different angles as her aura tore it apart. K'Thane dodged and flowed around the Brute she fought with such grace it looked like she was performing a dance around it as her own Annihilation Field weakened it for Marx's shots.

The last Brute jolted Rizzi out of her near trance-like state by plowing into her from behind and tossing her four meters through the air. Her training kicked in and she tucked into a roll as she hit the ground, allowing her armor to absorb some of the impact. The Brute swung around towards her, glaring at her with synthetic eyes. It tensed its legs to charge again.

A thunderous roar drowned out all other sounds of the battle. It made Marx's Widow sound like a silenced pistol in comparison. Rizzi felt the shockwave of it compress her chest.

The Brute's head exploded in a burst of flame, smoke, and organic matter. The smoke cleared to reveal its entire upper torso gone, obliterated in a single shot. A stream of rounds scythed through nearby Reaper troops, cutting them to pieces. Small arms fire battered other enemies in the plaza as a Mako armored vehicle rolled into the plaza with a troop escort.

The Mako's presence decisively swung the battle in the Alliance's favor. It quickly cut down the remaining Reaper troops with a combination of cannon and co-axial machine gun fire while the accompanying marines mopped up scattered survivors. Before long the plaza was covered with enemy corpses. The Mako and its team withdrew, probably off to another sector. There was always one sector or another in dire need of reinforcements. The exhausted ground team sagged to the ground.

A roar behind her turned Rizzi's head to see a wounded Cannibal drawing a bead on her with its weapon. A burst of rounds stitched its side and knocked its aim off target, the round soaring past Rizzi's head. A second burst of rounds immediately after riddled its face and the harvested batarian dropped unceremoniously.

"Rizzi? Is that you?"

She turned at the voice. "Michaels? I haven't seen you since-"

"N7 graduation. Feels like a lifetime ago, eh?"

Rizzi nodded at the heavily armored figure in the middle of the plaza and walked over to him. His features were concealed by the angular faceplate of the T5-V Battlesuit armor worn by N7 Destroyers. "It's good to see you again," she said. "Thanks for the assist." She nodded at the Cannibal corpse.

"A pleasure. Wasn't expecting to see you in this hellhole." Michaels looked around at the devastation. "This is a colossal Charlie Foxtrot, isn't it?"

"It could be worse."

Michaels snorted. "Yeah we could have the bloody Reapers themselves actually landing."

"Don't even joke about that," Rizzi said. That was the most dreaded prospect Alliance troops faced: the direct participation of the Reapers themselves. Such an event was always the cataclysmic deciding factor in a battle, and it never went in the Alliance's favor.

"It's about the only thing that could make this worse," Michaels said. Still scanning the battlefield he reloaded idly, and Rizzi did a double take as she finally noticed his weapon.

"Michaels."

"Eh?"

"You're a Destroyer."

He cocked his head at her. "Yes, I know."

"Why aren't you using a bigger gun?"

He held up the submachine gun in his fist. "Do you think you could convince the bloody arse-wits in procurement to authorize me for one?"

Rizzi sighed. "You too, huh?"

"Yeah!" Michaels shook his weapon as he spoke. "This is a bloody Hornet! Mark _bloody _Eight! Eight! This peashooter's not even widely issued yet! And they have the bloody _heavy weapons_ specialist running around with a Mark Eight! And don't _even_ get me started on the bloody biotic amp authorizations! I tried explaining it to the dunce! 'I'm not a bloody biotic,' I told him! The bugger wouldn't shut up about how advanced it was!"

Rizzi found herself smiling at Michaels' rant. He'd nearly been drummed out of the N7 program three times for what he called "speaking the truth" and the instructors called insubordination. It was good to know that some things didn't change.

"Breathe, friend, breathe," Wu said as he stepped to Rizzi's side.

"Ah," Rizzi said as she indicated the men in turn. "Lieutenant Elijah Wu, Gunnery Chief Leon Michaels."

"Good to see another N7 on the field, sir," Michaels said.

"Likewise," Wu said as they shook hands briefly.

Michaels paused and cocked his head. Rizzi realized he was listening to a comm transmission on another channel. Michaels straightened up. "Look, I need to link up with what's left of my squad in Sector Four. Watch your arses out here, eh?"

"You too," Rizzi said.

Michaels tapped a control on his forearm. His suit subtly reconfigured itself with a whine of servos and hydraulics as it disabled the stabilization and targeting systems that were the cornerstones of the T5-V system. Michaels nodded to them and jogged off through the rubble towards the other sector.

"Did you know him from before?" Wu said.

"He was in my N7 class."

"Which year?"

"Eighty-four," she said. "You?"

"Eighty-three, actually."

"Oh," Rizzi said. "Was Commander Akitaiko the zero-G combat instructor while you were there?"

"'Psycho 'Taiko?' Oh don't remind me," Wu said. "Did he still tie partners together and throw them into a null grav obstacle course?"

"Ugh. My partner was this Sentinel who had no grasp of zero-G maneuvering. She ran us into every sharp corner on that course."

"Hmm. My partner got space sick. Violently."

Rizzi winced in her mask. "Ooh."

"That was… unpleasant." Wu paused for a moment. "Still, I felt worse for the people going after us."

Rizzi erupted into laughter. She wasn't sure why she found it so funny and decided it was the exhaustion.

"Did Rizzi just snap?" Marx said. "Cause this is not a good time and place for that."

"I… may have told a joke," Wu said.

"I didn't know you had it in you."

"I didn't think I did either."

K'Thane strode up to Rizzi and Wu. "It's good to see you can bond in such circumstances," she said. "Nevertheless, I suggest we try to block up that road with whatever we can. The Reapers will undoubtedly attack again."

That killed Rizzi's mirth. She exchanged glances with Wu. "Good idea. Maybe some of these abandoned cars and-"

The roar of Marx's Widow cut her off.

"Cannibals, five or six, and a Marauder," the sniper said. "Looks like a scouting team."

With a weary sigh Rizzi called up her Annihilation Field and threw herself into the fight once again.

* * *

The Alliance forces in Touchdown City endured four more hours of sporadic attacks and probes before the final unstoppable attack came. It hit all the sectors at once in numbers that mocked the tally of kills reaped by Alliance troops in the preceding day. Panicked calls for reinforcements went unanswered as there were none left to be committed.

Sector Two fell first. Its surviving Mako, forming the linchpin of its defense, was overwhelmed by the combined fire of seven Ravagers. The marines in the sector fell back in the face of the crushing offensive but were picked off one by one. Only the remnants of one squad from the 103rd Marine Division made it to the fallback perimeter.

Sector Two's collapse put all the other sectors in danger of being surrounded piecemeal from behind as Reaper forces poured in. His voice a tight coil of rage, Major Hadra ordered all teams to the fallback perimeter.

Rizzi's team nearly lost the race to a more defensible position as the advancing Reaper troops from Sector Two cut across the road that formed their lifeline to the fallback perimeter. The team cut down Cannibals, husks, and Ravagers in their way. They avoided Brutes rampaging on the streets by using rooftop routes. Rizzi and Wu biotically blinked through walls to surprise Marauders waiting in ambush. After what felt like an eternity they reached the line of deployable barricades that marked the fallback perimeter for the southern road.

"Come on! Move your bloody arses!" Michaels crouched atop the firing platform of the closest barricade, spraying rounds into the veritable sea of enemies behind them. The automated missile launcher mounted on his armor spat a projectile that arched over Rizzi and soared into a Cannibal pursuing her. Other marines behind the barricade added their small arms fire, suppressing the incoming enemies enough for Rizzi's squad to climb over to cover.

"What kept you?!" Michaels called.

"We stopped to take in the sights!" Marx said. "Lovely little café just down the street!" She shot a Marauder through the head. "Terrible service!"

"Hold the line!" Major Hadra said. "Pilots report they're making the last civilian evac runs! We need to buy them that time!"

The fallback perimeter formed a much smaller and tighter circle around the spaceport. It followed the circle road of Touchdown City's original borders. Four expressways ran in straight lines for a kilometer from the circle road to the spaceport, and the Alliance's defenses were concentrated at these arteries. Each of these chokepoints was assigned one of the four surviving Makos. Without the armored vehicles none of the barricades would have lasted for more than ten minutes. The Reaper forces appeared to take some horrible glee in throwing themselves at the defenses, as if offended by the audacity of the organic species at offering such resistance.

Rizzi herself lost track of how long they spent hurling back assaults upon the barricade. The constant chatter of small arms fire filled her ears, punctuated with shouted commands, curses, screams of pain, and the bass roar of Mako cannon fire. She was part of a forward defense team with Wu, K'Thane, and other close quarter specialists. They roamed the killing ground in front of the barricade itself, forming pockets of resistance to break up Reaper charges and cull their numbers before they could reach the defense wall in sufficient quantities to overwhelm it. The defenders on the wall supported them with suppressive fire and focused on priority targets like heavily armored Brutes. In any other war, on any other day, such actions would have been the stuff of ICA legend, studied as textbook combined arms tactics. In this war, on this day, it was just the desperate attempt of the living to stave off the tides of hell for another few minutes.

Rizzi mostly remembered moments and milestones of that holding action. One in particular came when she blasted a husk off Wu with a biotic pulse. A Cannibal took the opportunity to pounce on her, catching her left forearm in its jaws. She felt her armguard begin to buckle under the pressure. A blade burst through the side of the Cannibal's head and sliced its lower jaw off, freeing Rizzi's arm. She turned to Wu with thanks on her lips-

"The last shuttle is away!" Major Hadra announced to all the troops. "Repeat, the last civilian shuttle is away! Good work, soldiers!"

Ragged cheers erupted from surviving soldiers. Susan was not among those cheering, occupied as she was with a Brute attempting to crush her. She blinked away from it to a safe distance, giving their Mako a chance to put a cannon round through its chest.

"Extraction flights will commence shortly," Hadra continued. "Stand firm, soldiers. We're almost out of this!"

Rizzi detonated her Annihilation Field to obliterate a group of husks on top of her. K'Thane, distinctive in her glowing tech armor, slipped in and out of a group of charging Cannibals setting off biotic blasts all the while. A Vanguard charged into a Marauder and sent it bouncing off a holed car behind it. A husk promptly grappled him and wrestled him into the open where a pair of Ravagers incinerated them both with coordinated volleys.

She suddenly became aware of Marx yelling at them.

"Fall back, fall back! We're losing the barricade!"

Rizzi spun around to see a section of the barricade collapse under a Brute's charge as it rushed for the Mako. A nearly point blank cannon round halted the beast but the damage to the defenses was done. Cannibals and Marauders surged towards through the gap, cutting down those troops knocked out of position by the Brute's charge.

Even as she watched the collapsing line a single shot tore through two Cannibals at once. The Marauder next to them suddenly jerked around, flailing at the grenade stuck to its face. The blast flattened another Cannibal nearby and Rizzi saw Marx beckoning them through the gap she'd just created.

She sprinted for the barricade, trusting to her speed and barriers for protection. K'Thane was right by her, tech armor dissolving incoming rounds. Wu Charged into a Marauder in the gap and lopped its head off before launching a Biotic Slash that cleared the breach in the barricade. K'Thane ran past downed Reaper forces, her Annihilation Field ensuring some didn't rise again. Rizzi took a shortcut and blinked through the barricade wall itself.

There was no time to catch her breath. The ground itself rumbled and she looked up frantically, thinking that one of the Reapers had indeed landed to personally end the battle. The sky was clear apart from the inevitable smoke.

Unbeknownst to Rizzi or anybody at the south road the Alliance force holding the north road had just been slaughtered to a man. Captain Golovkin, the officer in command of the northern defense, was among the last to die, impaled to the ground on a Brute's claw. Spitting blood and curses, he activated the detonator for the demolition charges his squad had laid earlier in the day. The rumble Rizzi had felt was the result of two tall apartment complexes bracketing the north road collapsing in a storm of dust and debris, burying dozens of Reaper troops and cutting off access to the spaceport. The defenders of the south road were much too preoccupied to take much other notice.

"The north road is down," Major Hadra said. "Fall back to the spaceport. Shuttles are inbound."

The Mako started backing up the south road towards the spaceport, its co-ax gun firing all the while as another Brute tore through the barricade wall. The surviving Alliance troops attempted to perform an orderly withdrawal in the face of the relentless assault, but there were too few remaining to maintain a sufficient weight of fire. The most they could do was buy periodic space and time by killing their enemies, but for each Reaper thrall felled more replacements flooded in over the corpse.

They lost the Mako halfway up the road. A Ravager, skittering over rooftops alongside the road, knocked out its rear right wheel with a quick volley. The Mako, still reversing, slewed to its right as the driver lost control. The armored vehicle crushed an unfortunate marine and plowed into a building front. The momentum drove the Mako's rear up, angling its cannon down as it tried to draw a bead on the Brute closing towards it. Soldiers scattered from its berserk charge.

The Brute hit the side of the Mako with a thunderous crash and the shriek of twisting metal. It tore through the armor plating like it wasn't there, opening up the Mako as it lunged for the hapless crew. A shriek sounded from the interior and was cut off by wet crunching noises.

Rizzi hit the Brute with all her biotics. It ignored her, still fixated on getting to the Mako crew. The sound of small arms came from inside the Mako as a survivor fought back. The Brute pulled its head out of the Mako and punched its claw in. More pistol fire sounded.

"Get down!" A sticky grenade soared past Rizzi and latched onto the Brute's side. Marx ran past Rizzi, grabbing and pulling the biotic with her around the front of the Mako. A second later the grenade went off, scattering Brute chunks around. "That was my last nade," Marx said.

Rizzi went back to the hole the Brute had torn into the Mako as Michaels coordinated suppressive fire into the encroaching horde. "Come on! We've got to get outta here!" she shouted. A crewman hauled himself out of the wreck, his armor pitted with scratches.

"Loren and Ravi are gone," he said as he shook his head.

"Nothing we can do," Rizzi said. "Go! Fall back!"

"Fall back! Keep it tight and keep that fire up!" Michaels bellowed.

"South road, where the hell are you?" Major Hadra said. "The shuttles are here!"

Rizzi looked up and saw the growing blips of Kodiaks in the sky. "We're on our way, sir!" she said. "There's heavy enemy resistance!"

"Move faster, Lieutenant! The Navy is preparing to blast this place from orbit!"

"Copy that!"

Their numbers kept dwindling as they retreated up the last half kilometer of the road. Rizzi guessed they were down to a dozen fighters. At least the spaceport was in sight. Ahead of them Alliance shuttles landed wherever there was room. The spaceport and the roads surrounding it were completely littered with abandoned vehicles and luggage.

The south road survivors dashed into the maze of vehicles. They provided concealment and cover but also slowed their retreat down. Soldiers already at the evacuation zone sent fire over their heads, but Reaper forces were driven by wills that overrode self-preservation.

A small car flipped through the air and Rizzi threw herself flat, narrowly dodging it. She rolled to her feet and continued running.

"Incoming Brute!" somebody called.

"Where do they keep getting those things?!" Marx said as she put a burst from her Shuriken into a husk climbing over a van. She was long out of thermal clips for her Widow.

The Brute launched another car in its charge. It was heading for Rizzi. It shoved yet another car aside and she finally saw it. She hit the Brute with a lingering warp effect. Ten meters away from her, K'Thane hurled her own biotics at the beast. Marx decloaked by Rizzi firing her Shuriken and cursing as the Brute ignored the submachine gun rounds.

Wu slammed the Brute. Weakened by combined warp effects it collapsed to its knees and Wu jumped onto it, his sword held in a reverse grip. Screaming in rage, he plunged the blade into the Brute's face repeatedly. It shuddered and went still. Rizzi saw Cannibals and Marauders closing, escorting Ravagers between them and intercepting fire with their own bodies. Wu continued stabbing the downed Brute.

"It's dead!" Rizzi called to him. "Come on!" He didn't respond. Rizzi ran towards him, intending to pull him off if she had to.

A pair of Ravager shots streaked in. The first overloaded Wu's barriers. The second hurled him off the Brute. Wu hit the ground and rolled twice, sheathing his sword as he came back up. Visible cracks riddled the back of his armor. A Marauder leapt onto a nearby car and opened fire. Wu jerked twice and collapsed. A flurry of fire and biotics killed the Marauder and Rizzi ran over to Wu's side.

She breathed a sigh of relief. He was still alive. She gave him a dose of medi-gel and threw an arm over her shoulders, dragging him towards the shuttles. She saw with alarm that most of the shuttles had already left or were taking off.

"Final call!" said Major Hadra. "Get to the shuttles now!" More shuttles were taking off by the second.

"Leave… me," Wu said. His voice was ragged, but Rizzi was relieved he was trying to walk at least.

"That's not happening," she said as she adjusted his arm over her shoulders and tightened her grip. The sound of Reaper forces behind them got louder.

"It… was my own… damn fault." He coughed.

"Shut up and move." The closest shuttle was still thirty meters away, its side door open as Marx swung back out with her Widow freshly loaded.

"Come on!" The Infiltrator lined her rifle up. Rizzi felt like it was aimed right at her. Marx stroked the trigger and decapitated an advancing Cannibal. Twenty-five meters.

Another shuttle roared for the sky. Rizzi hoped Michaels had gotten out. She'd lost track of him in the vehicle maze. Twenty meters.

She saw K'Thane sprinting for the shuttle, swinging herself in. The shuttle itself fired its cannons at something she couldn't see. Her HUD flashed with barrier status warnings. Marx flickered back into sight as she dropped a Marauder while cloaked. Fifteen meters.

Rizzi staggered as something slugged her shoulder. She felt a sharp pain and then the cold oozing feel of her suit topically administering medi-gel as it detected the wound. K'Thane swung back into sight behind a pair of mounted turret guns and unleashed a stream of fire past Rizzi and Wu. Ten meters.

A round tore clean through her right thigh. She would have collapsed had Wu not been leaning against her on that side. She saw K'Thane yelling into the cockpit while she and Marx kept shooting. Another shot punctured her armor and her side. The breath left her lungs. She fell, taking Wu with her. Five meters.

The side turret hammered out a constant roar, but Rizzi knew she didn't have the strength to get back up. She felt Wu squeeze her hand in apology and she returned it. Then the shuttle slid toward them on its thrusters, coming to a halt nearly on top of them. Shots pinged off its armored bulk. Somebody grabbed Wu and hauled him up. A hand clutched her outstretched arm and she looked up to see Marx pulling her up. Marx got her half upright before looping her arm under Rizzi's chest and half-throwing her aboard the shuttle.

"Go!" she heard K'Thane shouting. She felt the press of acceleration and saw the light level dim as the shuttle door closed. She heard the doors seal with a hiss. Why were the lights still dimming?

* * *

Rizzi's shuttle was the last to leave Otte. It was still roaring for orbit when the _Salvador_, _Madrid_, _Hyderabad_, and _Nefrane_ opened fire from low orbit. Alliance forces had held the city for over twenty-four hours. It took the cruisers less than twenty minutes to blast the city to rubble with precision mass accelerator strikes. The shuttle, curving around at an angle to avoid the line of fire, slipped into the _Salvador_'s bay partway through the bombardment.

The convoy of warships and civilian freighters was drawing together for FTL transit when sensors detected Reaper vessels entering the system. The assorted vessels abandoned all attempts at orderly formations and jumped to FTL as a mob. The risks were considered negligible in light of the alternative.

Rizzi was unaware of all of this. She'd lost consciousness before the shuttle reached orbit. Medical teams rushed her and Wu to the med bay as soon as they reached the _Salvador_. Doctor Chung pronounced both their wounds serious but survivable even as she oversaw both surgeries.

The convoy would emerge from FTL in the Newton system nearly a day later. The evacuation of Otte was already being hailed as a resounding success by the Alliance News Network. Reporters spoke of extraordinary bravery in the face of overwhelming odds and of families leaving all their material possessions behind but getting out safely. One particularly popular picture showed crews helping a pregnant woman aboard a shuttle while a Mako and a squad ran by in the background. It was the same Mako that had reinforced Rizzi's squad in the plaza.

Few people knew its eventual fate. It had been ambushed and disabled while moving between sectors; its crew surrounded and cut down as they abandoned the unpowered vehicle. The hulk of the Mako itself was ultimately destroyed in the orbital bombardment. A total of eleven Makos had been committed to the evacuation of Otte. One was extracted.

The survivors of Otte, those who were conscious, gathered together in groups large and small aboard whatever ships they were on. There was no regard for species, ranks, specializations, or unit differences. Some gathered in celebration, some in mourning. Some shared stories of what they'd just survived while others stayed silent. When the first news broadcasts came on conversations all over the fleet stopped. There were scattered cheers at the mention of the heroism of the ground troops, but they were few and mostly weak. Most of the survivors were in silent agreement: Otte hadn't felt like a victory.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Whew! That was the longest chapter so far. If you've read all the way to here, thank you. I only hope reading this has been as enjoyable for you as writing it has been for me.

A special thank you goes to those who've offered reviews and suggestions.

If I may share a little of my writing process and observations so far:

Maiena K'Thane's dialog and interactions with the team, and with Rizzi in particular, have been the hardest for me to write thus far. Conversely, Lisa Marx practically writes herself for me. In fact, she pretty much steals every dialog scene in my brain as I'm trying to plan it out. Which is interesting, because in my character concepts I had Maiena planned out a lot more in terms of personality, background, motivations, etc. Marx on the other hand started as a kind of joke character with a single punch line: she keep getting terrible teammates (Oh, and if anybody cares, she's the Infiltrator talking to the Vorcha about terrible squad members).

Hmm. Maybe there's a lesson here.

Also, you have no idea how much I wanted to name this chapter "The Voiding of Brahe."


	10. Convalescence

Susan Rizzi climbed out of the soft bed, kissed its other occupant softly, and slipped into the silk night robe that lay draped across the back of the hand carved chair near the window. She pulled open the curtains, luxuriating in the warm sunlight that streamed through. The Napa Valley was beautiful this time of year, and the bed and breakfast room had such an amazing view out the window. Susan just stood there gazing at the pristine landscape and smiling to herself.

A pair of arms wrapped around her from behind as a warm body pressed against her. She leaned back into it and shivered as its owner laid a gentle kiss against the side of her neck.

"I thought we could go for a walk outside," she said, "but you're now making me think staying right here is a much better idea."

"You can't do that yet," the voice murmured. She knew that voice, but why did it seem strange? For that matter, why was it murmuring in her ear that way? "We have to win."

Susan turned around. Elijah Wu stood pressed against her, his arms wrapping her in an embrace. She frowned. What was going on? Where was his shirt? How had they gotten here?

"We have to beat the Reapers," Elijah said.

Susan twitched. The last thing she remembered was…

"We have to beat the Reapers," Elijah said again.

The shuttle floor. She blinked. Otte. The city. Elijah kept looking at her. That last run for the extraction shuttle, half-dragging Wu on her shoulder.

"We have to beat the Reapers," Elijah said. "Or none of this will exist again."

The terrible sounds of battle. The wounds, the pain. Bleeding out on the shuttle floor. Susan closed her eyes. She wrapped her own arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Can't we just stay here?" she said. "Like this? Peaceful?"

He lifted her chin with a finger, looking into her eyes.

"Time to wake up."

* * *

Pain. Cold. Susan opened her eyes slowly. She was looking at a med bay ceiling again. Why did this seem familiar? A woman's face looked down at her. Ah, that would be Doctor Chung. Susan blinked. It wasn't.

"Doctor? She's awake." It was the Grissom trainee. What was her name? Oh yes, Ackland. A second face joined Ackland in her view. There was Doctor Chung.

"Lieutenant? Good to see you awake," she said.

"Doctor?" Susan said. She realized she was wearing a face mask. "How long?"

"Were you out?" Chung said. Susan nodded. "You've been in sickbay for fifteen hours."

"Hurt bad?" Talking was an effort.

"Hurt bad indeed," said Doctor Chung. She smiled. "You'll be all right. Rest, let yourself heal. You've been through a lot."

"Wu… did he make it?"

"Yes he did." Doctor Chung nodded to Susan's left. She turned her head slowly and saw Elijah Wu lying on the next bed. "I understand that was thanks to you."

"Just… doing my… job."

The doctor patted Susan's hand. "You're a strong young lady. Don't worry; you should make a full recovery."

Susan nodded leadenly. Her vision was getting blurry. She leaned back against the pillow. The events of her dream boiled up in her mind and filled her with a mixture of embarrassment, confusion, and quiet longing. There was something else, she realized. There was also resentment that the real world was so unlike the idyllic dream. Susan closed her eyes. She just needed to rest for a moment…

She opened her eyes. There was that strange, indefinable sense that time had passed. She wasn't wearing the oxygen mask anymore. She blinked. The lights were low, which meant the ship was in its night shift. She lifted her head and was mildly alarmed by how much effort that took.

Looking around she saw Doctor Chung asleep at her desk, head on a pillow between her arms. Susan smiled at the sight and turned her head to the left. Susan would have jumped if she'd had the strength. Wu was staring at her. He didn't react when she turned to him, and got the sense he wasn't staring at her but rather through her, and she just happened to be in the way.

"How are you?" she asked? Her voice was weak, but at least speaking was easier than before. Wu blinked and focused on her. He was paler than usual, and Susan hoped he felt better than he looked.

"Why?" he said. "Why'd you drag me out?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Susan said. She narrowed her eyes. "Did you want to be left down there?"

Wu lowered his gaze. "I don't know." He looked back up at Susan. "I don't want anybody getting killed over me."

"Well, I'm still alive." Susan smiled.

"No thanks to me," Wu said. "I'm sorry."

"It's not the first time I've been wounded extracting a squad member."

"That shouldn't have happened." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. "You'd be fine if I hadn't lost control."

"There's no way you can know that," Susan said as firmly as she could. "That whole situation was a mess all around. You can't blame yourself for-"

"Yes I can," Wu said. He frowned at Susan. "That's the second time you've been wounded because of me. Why do you still want to talk to me?"

"Right now, I don't know," Susan said with a sigh. "You really make it difficult sometimes."

Wu didn't say anything. He just turned away, making it clear the conversation was over. Susan sighed again and closed her eyes for lack of anything else to do. She fell asleep in moments.

* * *

Susan woke up when Doctor Chung took more readings. She stood by Susan's bed, making notes on her data pad.

"Doctor?"

"Oh! Lieutenant, I'm sorry for waking you."

"It's no problem. What time is it?"

"It's oh-eight-thirty hours," Doctor Chung said. "I was just taking some readings before going off duty."

"Thank you for staying," Susan said.

Flora Chung smiled. "As you would say, I'm just doing my job. Now, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Another blanket would be nice."

"Of course." Chung plucked a blanket from the storage closet by her desk and settled it over Susan gently.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Think nothing of it," she said. She held up a remote attached to Susan's hospital bed. "I'm going off duty, but let me show you some controls. This button calls me anywhere on the ship." Susan nodded. "These controls," Chung continued, "set up a low level privacy field that obscures vision and sound." She paused. "It can cover two adjacent beds."

Susan looked at the twinkle in her eyes. "Did we wake you up?"

"Oh, I've always been a light sleeper," Chung said with a dismissive wave. She smiled. "I'll leave you to it."

Susan nodded as Doctor Chung returned to her desk. The doctor entered some more notes and then left the med bay.

"She's a kind lady," Wu said.

Susan turned to him. "We didn't wake you, did we?"

Wu shook his head. "She took my readings first. I've been awake for a few minutes." He looked at her in silence for a moment, emotions warring upon his face. "How are you feeling?" he finally said.

"Like a thresher maw swallowed me," she said. "Better than yesterday though."

"Good." He nodded once, and then lay back and closed his eyes.

Susan looked at him for several more moments, and then sighed. The conversation was over again. She adjusted her bed to more of a seat and leaned back, alone with her thoughts.

Her thoughts were interrupted about ten minutes later when the med bay doors opened. Lisa Marx strolled in, grabbing a chair on her way to Susan's side.

"The doc says you'll be fine," she said without preamble. "I have to say, that was really impressive stuff back on Otte. I think you're up for a medal." Lisa nodded at Wu's unconscious form. "A lot of people would have left him."

"I couldn't," Susan said.

Lisa smirked at her. "He must be amazing in bed, then." Susan flushed bright red as remembered her dream and Lisa's eyes widened. "Aha! Spill it! When did you have time to…?"

"Nothing happened," Susan said as vehemently as she could.

"I could guide a shuttle in from orbit using your face," Lisa said.

"It was just a dream," Susan said. "I was recovering from surgery and probably under anesthetic influence."

Lisa sat back and crossed her arms. "Well that's disappointing."

"Did you come here just to grill me on my love life? Because I can assure you; it's nonexistent."

"That's kind of sad when you say it out loud."

"I've been busy. You know the ongoing war against galactic extinction?"

"Doesn't that mean you should enjoy it while you can?" Susan went quiet and Lisa chuckled after a moment. "Oh, who am I kidding? It's been ages since I've seen any action."

"This war doesn't leave many opportunities for…" Susan trailed off. _Opportunities for what,_ she thought. _Love? Happiness?_ _Future hopes?_

Lisa nodded. "It really doesn't. Anyways, I brought you guys some reading material. I thought you might be bored cooped up here." She set a data pad by Susan's side before getting up and doing the same for Wu.

"I'll look at it later," Susan said as Lisa sat back down. "How are you holding up?"

"Me? I'm not the one in med bay." Lisa paused and frowned. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah. But Otte was crazy," Susan said. "I'm not sure any of us made it out completely whole."

"I'm okay right now," Lisa said. "I'm sure the nightmares will come later. To tell the truth, a lot of it is just one big blur. It all blends together after being in combat for so long, you know?"

Susan nodded.

"You've been through something like that before, right?" Lisa said. "During N7 training?"

"Yeah. The real thing is worse, but some of those N1 courses were crazy."

"N1? The marathon combat courses are the first things you do?"

"Yup." Susan noticed the pensive expression on Lisa's face. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I got an invitation to the program right before the Reapers hit," Lisa said. "I wasn't really sure about it then, and I've been kinda busy since. How did you decide to attend?"

"A chat with my brother," Susan said. "He was so proud of me when I got the invitation. I wasn't sure I could do it, personally. He always believed I could."

"That's where I'm at. I don't know if I have what it takes to finish the program."

Susan smiled at her. "I know you do. Just look at what you've done during this war."

"Thanks," Lisa said. "I'm pretty happy doing what I am now though."

"Really, you'd make a great N7. It's supposed to open up some nice opportunities too. You should really think about accepting that invitation after the war."

Lisa snorted. "Yeah, if there _is_ an after the war."

"Think of it as an incentive to win."

"What? So I can do more twenty hour combat sessions? Yeah, great incentive."

"There would be other things, obviously."

"Right." Lisa smirked. "Like… handsome Vanguards with obviously hurting souls? You're such a romantic."

"If I weren't seriously wounded right now I would kick your ass."

Lisa gave her an impish smile. "Why do you think I pick these times to talk to you?"

"Come here. Bring your face to my fist, please."

"So tell me about this dream."

"No."

"You're no fun. Was it loud and angry at least?"

Susan sighed.

* * *

Lisa stayed with her for nearly half an hour. They chatted and shared, Lisa heckling her for details frequently. Susan was sorry to see her go when Banafsheh summoned her for a debriefing. She enjoyed the irreverent Infiltrator's company: it reminded her of past times with her brother. If she was being honest with herself, she even enjoyed Lisa's teasing about Wu.

Susan stared at the door for a minute after Lisa left. She was glad she'd visited; being stuck in med bay with an antisocial Wu would have been-

"You're right about her making a good N7," Wu said.

Susan jerked in surprise and then winced in pain at the movement. She turned to his bed to see Wu looking at her.

"Can't you cough or clear your throat or something so I know you're there and awake?" she said. "It's a little creepy the way you just…say stuff suddenly."

Wu looked at her for a moment, and then cleared his throat. Susan rolled her eyes at him but couldn't resist a smile. Then she froze and felt the blood drain from her face. "Wait. You were awake for that?"

"Pretty much since she walked in, yeah."

"Oh no." Susan brought a hand to her face. "Can we pretend that conversation did not happen?"

"If you insist." Wu smiled at her. Susan realized it was the first time she'd ever seen him smile. _He should smile more._ "She knew I was awake, by the way."

"What?"

"Oh yeah. Gave me a wink and motioned for me to keep quiet when she dropped this off." He held up the data pad Lisa had placed at his side.

Susan shook her head. "I'm going to kick her ass."

"It's probably her way of unwinding," Wu said with another smile. His face turned serious. "I'm sorry about last night. You tried to reach out and I was very rude."

"It's alright," Susan said. "You're not interested in talking: I get that. I'll respe-"

"You're wrong," he interjected. He looked at her with a mix of trepidation and hope. "Can we start over?"

Susan smiled at him. "I'd like that."

"Thank you."

They spoke, quietly and hesitatingly, for over an hour. Susan carefully steered the conversation away from topics that seemed like potential triggers for him. They spoke about preferred restaurants on the Citadel, handling characteristics of different weapons, and the "feel" of different biotic techniques in the brain and body. They exchanged stories of their experiences in the N7 program. Eventually, both exhausted, they mutually agreed to rest and sleep before resuming.

When they woke up they spoke about their experiences serving with the different species in the coalition. They shared horror stories of Alliance Procurement. They spoke about their favorite foods to binge on after heavy biotic use and lamented the quality of rations. Wu asked about her brother. She told stories of times spent together, of troubles instigated and curfews broken. She spoke about supporting each other during hard times in the service and of joys shared. Finally, she spoke about that horrible day when she received the news that she'd never see or speak to him again. Wu listened to all of it in silence. Eventually they fell asleep again.

Elijah was already awake when Susan finished her nap. He stared up at the ceiling deep in thought. She chose not to interrupt him and waited in silence. At some point he looked down and saw her watching him.

"I was on the Citadel when the Reapers hit," he said quietly. Susan tensed. This was more than he'd ever shared before, and she could sense the pain in his words. "I was talking with my family. We did this thing every year where everybody would gather together. The whole family. Grandparents, uncles, cousins, everybody. I was on duty so I couldn't make it this year. My parents set up a group chat for all of us. I was talking with… I was talking with somebody when the Reapers landed."

Susan watched a tear roll down Elijah's cheek. He took a shaky breath.

"My little cousin was asking me what I thought of her joining the Navy. She'd just turned eighteen. Wanted to study engineering. There was this roar, you know that damn horn noise they make? I thought it was some freak interference at first, something wrong with a relay somewhere. Everybody stood up, moved away towards a window. They were looking at something. People started screaming. I don't think they could hear me. Then there was this flash. This red beam that cut through everything. The transmission went out."

Elijah sobbed quietly, and then stared straight ahead.

"I went back and replayed the last moments of the transmission in slow motion," he said. "I… I thought it would be better to know for sure, one way or another. The beam… the flash-heat… it stripped them to skeletons right before vaporizing everything. Boiled the flesh right off the bones."

He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. Susan opened her mouth to comfort him but stopped as he continued speaking.

"I lost track of how many times I watched that. I kept telling myself that maybe I missed something, or I'd misinterpreted something or the image was faulty…"

Susan didn't know what to say. What could she say to him?

"It wasn't just my family. There was… a girl I grew up with," Elijah said as he stared into the distance. "We were close for a while, but we drifted apart when I joined the military."

Susan nodded. He didn't seem to notice.

"We'd just started talking again. My family had her over for dinner and such a lot. I'd been thinking about some of the close calls during N6 training. I thought about her. We didn't have anything going, not really. I knew that. But still… she meant, I mean, she represented…"

"A future?" Susan said softly. "Maybe… happiness?"

Elijah turned to her in surprise. It was like he'd forgotten she was there. "I think so," he said. "Yes."

"I'm so sorry," she said. Tears kept streaming down his face as Elijah broke down sobbing in earnest. Susan realized her own eyes and cheeks were wet.

Eventually Elijah regained his composure. He took a deep breath and finally looked at her. She met his gaze with her own and saw the quiet gratitude in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she said again. "Thank you for sharing and trusting me."

"Thank you for listening," Elijah said. He smiled at her, and Susan saw both the effort it took and the genuine warmth behind it. She smiled back.

They shared no more words after that. A state of silence drifted over them. Unlike before, this was a comfortable silence. It didn't cry out for noise and distraction to fill it. It was a silence born between two people that had bared their souls to each other and found acceptance.

* * *

The silence lasted until the med bay doors hissed open and Lisa Marx entered again. She was reading the data pad in her hand. Behind her came Doctor Chung, similarly occupied.

"What's happening?" Susan asked.

"We just jumped to the Serpent Nebula relay," Lisa said.

"We're going to the Citadel?" Elijah set his bed further upright but stopped and winced.

"The _Salvador_'s due for some triple-R after Otte and the Verge," Lisa explained. Triple-R was shorthand for Repairs, Retrofits, and Rearming.

"You're both being transferred to Huerta Memorial Hospital," Doctor Chung added. "They have some of the best facilities in Council space."

"That's what I'm here for," Lisa said. "If you give me your locker codes I'll pack up your stuff and make sure it gets to you in the hospital."

"Thanks," Susan said as she transferred her code to Lisa's omni-tool.

"Thank you, Marx," Elijah said. "You didn't need to do this."

Lisa shrugged. "Hey, you're part of my team. And you're pretty good with that pig sticker of yours when you're not landing my friend in the hospital."

Elijah looked down. "It won't happen again."

Susan cleared her throat. "So do you know what you and K'Thane will be doing? Are they redeploying you?"

"Surprisingly not," Lisa said. "It looks like we've got some downtime after the Kepler Verge. There are rumbles about stuff going on beyond the Perseus Veil. Something's happening with the quarians and the geth." She shrugged. "It's almost like things are a little on hold until everybody knows more."

"Well, things could be worse," Susan said. "A little R&R on the Citadel, huh?"

"We'll see how long that lasts," Lisa said. "I'd better get packing. I'll catch up with you guys on the Citadel."

Doctor Chung smiled as Lisa left the med bay. "It's always nice to see squads getting along," she said. "If only more people were like that."

"Doctor, do you need us to do anything for the transfer?" Susan said.

"Heavens, no! Don't you worry about that. I've got everything taken care of here. We'll roll your beds to the shuttle once we dock."

"Thank you Doctor."

Chung gave both of them another smile and went to her desk, busying herself with the myriad demands of a warship's doctor. Susan looked over to Elijah. He had the data pad Marx had given him in hand and a frown creased his face as he read it. As Susan watched the frown turned into amusement and what looked like… embarrassment.

"What is it?" she said.

He looked up at her, the hint of a blush on his cheeks. "Did you get a chance to look at Marx's 'reading material' yet?"

"No, and suddenly I'm not sure I want to."

He kept scrolling through his data pad. "I did not know that was possible."

Her curiosity stoked, Susan picked up her own data pad and activated it. She frowned and read the document title out loud trying to make sure she hadn't misread it.

"_Lift Your Love Life: The Guide to Erotic Biotic Techniques. _Marx…"

Doctor Chung looked up from her desk and cleared her throat. "As your physician," she said in a remarkably straight voice, "I do _not_ recommend attempting any of the techniques in that book until you're both healed."

Susan felt herself flush bright red and saw Elijah do the same. She sighed. "I'm going to kick her ass…"


	11. Checking Out of Huerta

The _Salvador_ sliced through the Serpent Nebula towards the splayed cylindrical form of the Citadel. Its hull was scarred and pitted from actions during the Kepler Verge campaign. It soared past elements of the Citadel fleet and accepted transmitted accolades over its part in the battles of the Kepler Verge. Too large for the smaller docks inside the Presidium, it nestled in to one of the open bays on the outer ring by Kithoi Ward. While most of the crew left the ship through airlocks and docking tubes shuttles ferried command staff and other priority personnel to their destinations.

One such shuttle carried Susan and Elijah to the Huerta Memorial Hospital. Lisa rode with them, hauling their kitbags with her. On the flight over she asked them what they thought about the book she'd given them and laughed when Susan weakly tried to throw a pillow at her.

Huerta Memorial put Susan and Elijah in separate rooms despite Lisa's insistence to the staff that they preferred to be roomed together. They both told the staff to ignore the Infiltrator. In truth, Susan was more than a little disappointed after Lisa dropped her meager belongings off and headed out. She told herself it was just because she didn't want to be stuck alone in a room while healing.

Susan remained bedridden for the first day. The care at Huerta Memorial was indeed remarkable but she felt like she was losing her mind with nobody to talk to. Over the second day she managed to sit up on her own and even stand and take a few steps. One of the presiding physicians, a Doctor Michel, complimented her determination but encouraged her to relax.

By the third day Susan managed to walk under her own strength, if only barely. She took the opportunity to wander the hospital and before she knew it found herself at the door to Elijah's room. The door slid open as she approached it. Elijah sat on the side of his bed and was in the middle of putting his shirt on, his arms over his head and the shirt covering his face. _Wow_, Susan thought. _He's even more ripped than in my dream_. She shook the thought aside as Elijah tugged his shirt down and looked at her.

"Hi," he said.

"Um, hi."

He stood up with a grunt. "It's good to see you on your feet."

"You too," she said. "I've been going a little nuts cooped up in my room. I had to get out."

"I know exactly what you mean," Elijah said. He stepped towards the door. "I was about to go looking for you, actually."

"Oh?"

"Did you notice the view from the lobby?" he said. "It'd make a change from the room, and… views are best enjoyed with others."

Susan smiled. "That sounds like a great idea."

They hobbled over to the elevator, both breathing hard by the time they reached it. They made their way past the inpatient wing and labs on the first floor supporting each other. The door to the lobby opened and Doctor Michel walked through.

"What are you doing up?!" she said as she rushed over to them. "And out of your rooms?"

"Please, Doctor," Susan said. "We're both going a little crazy cooped up in our rooms."

"We're just going to sit in the lobby for a while," Elijah added.

Doctor Michel stepped back and frowned thoughtfully. "Very well," she said. "But not too long, please. You both need the rest. And call me if you need help. We can arrange for transportation here."

"Yes Doctor."

The doctor sighed and smiled. "Enjoy yourselves."

The two walking wounded stepped into the lobby. A reception desk and interior landscape dominated the center of the space while various chairs and seats were scattered around the edges. Patients and hospital staff of all kinds of species stood, sat, or walked around, some deep in conversation, some alone and quiet.

Elijah was right: the view from the lobby was wonderful. Two large windows running ceiling to floor showed off the elegant architecture and landscaping of the Presidium on both sides. Susan and Elijah gratefully sank down in a pair of padded chairs by one of the windows.

"It doesn't seem like there's a war on out there," Elijah said. "Even after Cerberus hit this place. It all looks so peaceful."

"From a distance, sure," said Susan. "You look at the Presidium from here and it's all pristine. But if you get close enough you see the bullet holes and the broken glass."

"True."

"It's a little like people," she said. "Everybody's got their scars. Some you don't see unless you get real close."

Elijah nodded as he looked out the window, and then gave Susan a sidelong glance. "Do you think a person's scars ever make them… too hard to get close to?"

"It can be difficult sometimes, yes." Susan was still looking out the window. "My brother described scars as the 'textures of life.' He always said they remind you that somebody is real," she said wistfully.

"You really miss him, don't you?" Elijah said. He was facing her now as she stared out the window.

"Yes."

"How did you… cope?"

Susan took a breath. "For a while I didn't. I just… didn't think about it. Didn't let myself feel anything."

"What changed?"

"There was this mission to Sanctum about a week after I got the news. We were clearing out these labs that Cerberus had been using for research. I thought at the time, 'here's my chance.' I could get revenge on the bastards who killed Sam."

"What happened?"

"The whole thing went sideways. The enemy was present in force, way more than we anticipated. I was the only one who made it out alive. On the shuttle flight back I just sat there thinking. I wondered why I was the one alive when I felt so empty. That was when I realized that being alive doesn't mean anything if you're not… well, _alive_. Getting all you can out of the time you have."

Elijah nodded as Susan turned away from the window towards him.

"We don't honor the fallen by turning ourselves into husks," she said. "We honor the fallen by living the most we can."

They sat in the lobby a while longer. Ostensibly they were enjoying the view, but both knew it was more about the company. Eventually they returned to their rooms after making plans to meet again the next day.

* * *

The next morning Susan climbed out of bed, encouraged that it was easier than before. She stretched experimentally but winced at the pain it caused. _Definitely n__ot a hundred percent_, she thought. She tried again. She'd just gotten both arms extended over her head-

The room door opened and Elijah stood in the entrance, his mouth open and eyes wide. Susan remembered that she was only wearing her undershirt and lowered her arms quickly as he recovered.

"Sorry! I'll wait outside." He spun around and stepped away so the door closed. Susan dressed as quickly as she could and joined him in the hallway. He straightened from where he leaned against the wall and opened his mouth.

"Don't worry about it," she said, forestalling further apology. "I walked in on you getting dressed, remember?"

"It's different," he said. He looked at her expression. "Well it is for me."

Susan broke into a grin. "So you're old-fashioned that way?"

"I guess so."

"I like that." She stepped to his side and slipped her arm through his, relishing his look of discomfort. "So, what brought you to my room without a chaperone?"

"I think Marx is rubbing off on you."

"Maybe a little."

"Anyways, I was on my way to see if you'd be interested in breakfast. How long's it been since we had solid food?"

Susan's stomach growled loudly at the mention of food.

"Breakfast sounds wonderful," she said. "To the cafeteria?"

They found the hospital cafeteria and took their pick of the surprisingly wide array of dishes on offer. By agreement they each took some of as many items they could fit on their trays and sat down together at a table to sample them all. They agreed that despite being hospital food it really wasn't bad, and leagues ahead of Alliance field rations. As Susan put it, "There are actually textures other than 'sludge' in here."

After breakfast they headed to the lobby again. It was even busier than yesterday. Susan and Elijah had to wait for seats to clear up. They hadn't been there long before the elevator to the hospital opened and four krogan in a mix of armor entered. One of them had several coils of rope looped around his chest and another had a bag over his shoulder. Susan blinked. The krogan with the bag was Dagrob Lurg.

Lurg noticed her as well and walked over, the other krogan following in confusion. "Rizzi!" he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Healing," Susan replied. "It's good to see you, Lurg."

"You too," he said. "Why are you here?"

"I got a little shot up on Otte."

"You were on Otte? You really do get all the fun!"

"I'm in the hospital because of it, Lurg."

"That just means they couldn't successfully kill you!"

"If you say so." She frowned. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"We're here for the commander of Aralakh Company, Urdnot Grunt," Lurg said. "He may be tank bred, but he's got a real quad. Took out a thresher maw during his rite of passage!"

"He did have help from Shepard," said a krogan whose helmet covered his face.

"A thresher kill is a thresher kill," Lurg said. "Anyway, we're here to break him out-"

The krogan next to him slapped his shoulder with a backhand.

"I mean, we're here to, uh, pay our respects," Lurg said. "Yeah, that's it."

"Right," Susan said with a grin. "And just so we know where to stay away from in the immediate future, where is this commander of Aralakh Company?"

Lurg pulled a data pad from his bag. "Uh, floor three, room eleven," he said.

"Okay. You guys have fun."

Lurg stepped a little closer and looked around before saying, "Let me know if you want us to break you and your friend here out too."

Susan laughed. "I don't think either of us would survive a krogan breakout right now. I appreciate the thought though."

"Why would we break her out?" asked the helmeted krogan.

Lurg head butted him.

"Because she's Susan Rizzi, the 'Furious Graal!'" he said. The other krogan looked at her with renewed respect and grunts of approval. Susan felt the familiar blush creeping towards her cheeks.

"And," Lurg continued, "because she drinks ryncol with wounded krogan!"

The grunts of approval doubled in volume. Susan saw more and more heads in the hospital lobby turning their way.

"Oh that reminds me," Lurg said. He reached into his bag again and pulled out a bottle before handing it to Susan. "I owe you a bottle of ryncol. Don't worry, I have lots more here. This is the good stuff, my own brew! You'll be wondering what you did after a glass of this stuff for days!"

"Thanks. You guys should probably get going before you make too big a scene," Susan said with a nod at the bystanders.

"Oh, right." Lurg looked around and nodded conspiratorially to her. "Come! We pay our respects to Aralakh Company!" He and the other krogan marched purposefully towards the hospital interior. People in their path scrambled aside.

Susan watched their progress with a wide smile on her face. Elijah's eyes flicked between her and the departing krogan. His face showed a mix of amusement and apprehension.

"Should we call security?" he asked Susan.

"And have them do what? Subdue a team of krogan?"

"Oh. When you put it that way…"

"Let them have their fun with… what'd they call him? Grunt? What's the worst that could happen?"

Wu shrugged. "A bunch of krogan with ryncol? I can think of quite a few things."

"Oh come on, it's not like they'll have to call in Commander Shepard."

"Yeah, you're probably right." He sat in silence for a moment before turning to Susan with curiosity in his eyes. "So why did that krogan call you the 'Furious Graal?' What was that all about?"

"Oh no." Susan brought a palm to her face.

"Oh, there's a story there." Elijah grinned and sat back. "Excellent."

Susan groaned.

One shamefaced explanation later, Elijah was laughing at Susan's story. She realized it was also the first time she'd heard him laugh, and felt a warm flutter in her chest at the thought that her story had drawn him out this way.

"I'll have to keep some of those threats in mind the next time I talk to a procurement officer," he said. "They keep authorizing me for prototype sniper rifle piercing mods and I keep telling them-"

The sound of shattering glass from somewhere above them interrupted him. They both turned to the window as a flailing, screaming form tumbled past them outside.

"Was that… a krogan?" Susan said. They stood up and stepped closer to the window, looking down. An open-topped skycar filled with cheering krogan soared down past the window in pursuit of the one who fell. "Yes. Yes that was."

"It looks like the breakout was a success," Elijah said. "Sort of."

"I hope he's okay," Susan said. "That was quite a fall."

"The Presidium does have much lower gravity," Elijah reminded her. "And he _is _a krogan."

Below them the occupants of the car fished their companion out of the lake he'd fallen into. He stood astride the hood pumping his arms into the air as the others cheered him. The car soon zipped off, the band of krogan undoubtedly up to more mischief.

"I guess he's fine."

Susan and Elijah looked at each other and then burst out laughing. The laughter hurt, but neither of them regretted it, both glad to be alive in that moment.

* * *

Their hospital stay lasted for another week. They settled into routines of physical therapy, follow-up exams, and talking away the long hours. Doctor Michel expressed her satisfaction at both of their recoveries.

"Does this mean we're free to go?" Susan asked her.

"Well, yes and no," she said. "While I can release you from having to stay at the hospital, I want you to continue your PT sessions. Ideally you would stay here until the PT finished, but the way this war is going…" She trailed off. It didn't need elaborating; Susan could see just from how busy the hospital was.

"I appreciate everything you've done, Doctor Michel," Susan said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," replied Doctor Michel. "Do you have somewhere to stay?"

Susan paused. "That's a good question," she said.

As it turned out they did. Susan contacted Captain Banafsheh who informed her that the Council had kindly provided lodging for soldiers on the Citadel. Entire apartment complexes were devoted to housing those involved in the war effort. Special Ops teams were housed in Kithoi Ward near the Silversun Strip. Banafsheh gave them the addresses assigned to them.

Susan and Elijah collected their kitbags and caught a shuttle ride to the apartment complex. It was a broad, squat rectangular tower overshadowed by taller and fancier skyscrapers. The exterior wasn't much to look at: slate gray walls and blunt vacuum sealing. Susan hauled her kitbag up the stairs leading to the lobby. Two guards from C-Sec, a human and a turian, stood guard outside.

"Identification, please." The turian held a scanner over Susan's arm as she activated her omni-tool and transmitted the data. "You're clear. Go ahead."

Susan moved through the double airlock design of the doors. To her pleasant surprise the interior was considerably nicer than the outside had led her to expect. Soothing curves and clean lines dominated the interior design. Pale green and blue colors evoked feelings of being under the sea. The individual apartments, she saw, were arranged as a square around an open central space. A long spiraling staircase ran up through the center of the building.

"This is a lot nicer than where they usually stick us," Elijah said behind her.

"It really is," Susan said. "What apartment are you in?"

"Five-twenty-three. You?"

"Seven-oh-four."

Elijah eyed the long staircase with trepidation. "I don't think I'm up to climbing that many stairs right now," he said. Susan knew exactly how he felt.

"Agreed. Let's find the elevator."

The lift was one of the slowest elevators she'd ever ridden in. "I thought they replaced all of these," Elijah said as it crawled upwards.

"Maybe in the Presidium," Susan said. "The Wards probably don't get the same attention."

The doors finally slid open on the fifth floor and Elijah took a step out. He turned back to her. "I… guess I'll see you at the next PT session?"

She nodded. "I guess so." The doors slid shut and Susan fought back the rising sense of… what? Disappointment? _Kill that mindset, Rizzi_, she told herself. _Focus on your recovery and the war_.

The elevator door finally opened on the seventh floor and she walked to her door. It was already synched to her omni-tool authorization and opened with a wave of her hand. The lights were on and she walked in with a tired sigh. A short entry hall led to a living room furnished with two simple couches adorned with throw pillows. Two adjacent bedroom doors stood along the far wall and the living room led to a small kitchen on the left. Susan gave an appreciative nod. It wasn't the fanciest apartment on the Citadel by a long shot, but it was practically a palace compared to the single bunk she was accustomed to aboard warships. A shirt and a pair of pants lay draped over one of the couches. A pair of shoes littered the floor like discarded thermal clips after a firefight.

The left bedroom door opened and Maiena K'Thane walked out, without shirt, pants, or shoes. She saw Susan standing in the living room and paused, then wordlessly started gathering the clothes strewn around.

"Sorry," Susan said. "I didn't know there was somebody else here."

"How did you get in?" Maiena asked.

"I'm assigned to this apartment." Susan held up her omni-tool. "It looks like we're housemates."

Maiena gave her a half-smile. "We're not housemates," she said as she lithely slid into her pants.

"What?"

The door to Susan's right slid open and Lisa Marx stepped out, a towel wrapped around her body and one around her head. She stopped.

"Ah," she said. "Awkward."

Maiena's half-smile grew into a full one. "She's your housemate," she said to Susan. The asari slipped her shirt on and adjusted the fit before putting on her shoes. "I'll leave you to settle in." She stepped past Susan and left the apartment without another word.

"So… welcome home?" Lisa said with a grin.

Susan opened and closed her mouth twice before words emerged.

"I thought you didn't get along with her."

Lisa grew pensive and she sat down on the near couch, slipping the towel off her head as she did so. "I'm still not sure I do," she shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… I'm not sure what we're doing. This just sort of… happened. We ran into each other at Purgatory and had some drinks. I think we both needed to unwind after Otte. I hadn't even realized how on edge I was about some things."

Susan moved a pillow out of the way and sat down on the other couch.

"So we had some drinks," Lisa continued. "Got into an argument about… what was it? Close quarters and long range."

"Why would you argue about that?"

"I don't know! It's what we do! We argue!" The Infiltrator grinned lopsidedly. "And have angry sex, evidently." She gave a wistful sigh. "Really, really good angry sex."

"Too much information."

Lisa smirked at her before continuing. "Anyways, after they kicked us out of Purgatory we kept arguing on the shuttle ride all the way back here."

"Why did they kick you out of Purgatory?" Susan asked. She paused. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

Lisa shrugged. "We argued about different ways of dealing with Reaper troops all the way up the staircase. One of the other N7's coming down yelled at us to get a room. I thought she meant we were too loud. So we brought it here. Had a few more drinks." She waved towards the kitchen and Susan's eyes widened at the array of empty bottles. "Next thing I know, she's kissing me while I'm taking her shirt off."

"Are you… okay?"

"Yeah! I'm… well I don't regret anything. I'm a little confused. Okay, I'm very confused. Like I said, I don't regret it, but I don't know what this means for… well, us."

"Who says you have to know right now?" Susan said. "Like you said, maybe you both just needed to unwind after Otte. Take it slow, see what happens next. If it goes somewhere, okay. If not…"

"If not," Lisa grinned, "at least it was a night to remember. And most of a day."

Susan gave her a mock glare. "You realize this means you don't get to tease me about Elijah anymore."

"Oh it's _Elijah_ now, is it?"

"Marx…"

"That was quite a hospital stay," Lisa said. She chuckled. "Did he give you some… thorough exams?"

She wasn't quite fast enough to dodge Susan's thrown pillow.


	12. Emotional Acceptance

Susan released her breath slowly as she stretched into a lunge, wincing as she felt the tautness of her wounded thigh. The Physical Therapy facilitator encouraged them all to stretch as far as they could. Susan glanced around at the others in the room. There were over a dozen other people in the session, a mix of wounded soldiers and civilians. She took comfort that she wasn't the only one who appeared strained. Elijah caught her eye and flashed a small smile. A rivulet of sweat ran down the side of his face as he held the pose. An hour into the session, she doubted she looked much better.

The PT session went on for another hour, putting its participants through stretches, strength, and flexibility exercises. Susan practically collapsed onto the padded floor once the session ended. _At least I'm improving, _she thought. Breathing no longer felt like she was trapped in vacuum with a leaking suit at session's end. A week after leaving the hospital, the daily Physical Therapy highlighted both how far she'd come and how weak she still felt.

The other participants trickled out of the room in ones and twos as she stretched her shoulder a little more. She closed her eyes and smiled at the much improved range of motion. _Hopefully this means I'll be back in action soon_. Someone sat down next to her and she opened her eyes to see Elijah looking at her with a little half-smile.

"Hey," she said with her own smile. "What are you thinking about?"

"You looked so peaceful there," Elijah said. "I wish I knew how you do it."

"Who says I am?"

"Your face, for one. The way you carry yourself."

Susan's smile faded. "I don't know if anybody is really at peace these days with everything going on."

"You're holding it together a lot better than some others," he said.

"Part of me is just not thinking about… everything happening," Susan admitted. "I'm pretty sure I'd go mad if I did. I can only take it one day at a time."

"That's very healthy."

"We take the little victories where we can." Susan put a hand on his knee. "The sorrows are there, but take what joy you can from things."

He looked away. "A part of me is unsure I know how to do that anymore."

"You don't have to face the pain alone," Susan said.

"About that," Elijah said. He turned to her, his face a window into the turmoil within. "I've been following up on something I heard here."

"What is it?"

"There's a Memorial Wall set up by refugees in the Docks," he said. "People have been leaving photos and mementos of those they lost. I was thinking of… bringing some photos there… of my family."

Susan nodded. "That's a good idea."

His face grew more anxious. "I was also thinking…" He took a deep breath. "I… I'm not sure I can do it alone. Would… you be willing to come with me?"

"Yes I would," Susan said softly. "I'll bring a picture of my brother as well."

Elijah took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Thank you," he whispered.

She squeezed back and they sat in silence for a minute before he released her hand and climbed to his feet. "It probably won't be right away," he said. "Let's complete the PT first. I need time to… sort things out."

"Whenever you're ready," Susan replied, "just let me know."

His nod conveyed his gratitude as he extended a hand to help Susan to her feet. "Did you have any lunch plans?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I hadn't thought about it," Susan said as she took his hand. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Remember back on Otte you said we'd eat boar if we got out of there alive?"

"No." Susan eyed him. "I was a little busy with the not dying part."

"Well, it was something you said."

"I'll take your word for it."

"So I found a restaurant serving boar on the Citadel."

Susan arched an eyebrow at him. "In the middle of this war? I'm surprised."

"Well, this _is_ the center of galactic civilization as we know it," he said. "Luxuries abound, even as the galaxy burns. Also, it's not from Earth. It's salarian boar."

"Oh. I didn't even know they had boar."

"Neither did I. So, if you're interested…" Elijah trailed off, looking hopeful.

"I'm interested," Susan said. "Where's this restaurant?"

"Ah, it's in the Presidium, by the asari embassy."

"Ooh, fancy."

"It's not my usual type of place," he said hastily.

"Nor mine," Susan agreed. "I imagine they'd turn us away if we showed up like this?" She plucked at her sweat-stained exercise clothes.

"I think you look quite nice the way you are," Elijah said absentmindedly. He froze, and then coughed into his fist. "That is, your current outfit shows how nicely you've recovered from… Uh, I mean, your physical condition has clearly improved since…"

Susan's grin grew larger as Elijah fumbled for words. She was tempted to let him keep digging himself deeper, but decided to spare him. "Your evaluation is acknowledged and appreciated, Lieutenant Wu," she said still grinning. "I'm merely suggesting that as Systems Alliance N7 representatives, we should present ourselves more… professionally."

"Professional. Right, yes." He coughed again. "Good thinking, Lieutenant Rizzi."

They caught a shuttle back to their apartment complex, where Elijah escorted Susan to her door.

"I'll pick you up in… half an hour?" he said at the entrance.

"Sounds good to me," she smiled. "See you then."

After Elijah left for his own apartment she headed straight to the shower. Hot running water was a luxury and she savored it while she could. Ablutions complete Susan headed for her room and considered what to wear. The choices were… sparse, to say the least. Living out of a kitbag, she'd forgotten how few off-duty outfits she kept.

There was really only one option for anything approaching formality. She slipped into a long white dress with dark trim. It was high collared and the hem went nearly to the floor while the sleeves extended all the way down her arms. The dress was a sublime paradox: it covered nearly everything while tightly hugging her form and displaying her curves. It was neither particularly fancy nor the latest style, but it was the only thing available to her. It helped that the dress was made from asari silk and extremely comfortable.

Susan stepped out into the living room once she finished dressing. Lisa Marx sprawled on one of the couches with a data pad in hand. She glanced over at Susan and grinned.

"Going somewhere?"

"To the Presidium, if you must know." Susan sat erect on the other couch, an image of dignity.

"And that requires dressing up now?"

"Some of the establishments near the embassies are picky that way."

"Why are you going to the embassies?"

"For… lunch."

Lisa sat up, her data pad forgotten. "Oh really?" Susan winced at her knowing tone.

"It's not what you think," Susan said.

"He's taking you to a restaurant that serves boar because you said you'd eat it together if you both survived Otte?"

Susan stared at Lisa for a moment. "How did you-"

"Who do you think helped him find the restaurant?" Lisa said. She grinned at Susan over her data pad. "I recommend their fried sweetroots."

"When did he ask you-"

"Two days ago. He wanted to make it a team outing, get everybody together."

"That sounds like a great idea," Susan said. "Why didn't you guys go for it?"

"Maiena and I talked it over," Lisa shrugged. "We decided to give you two some space."

"You're misinterpreting our relationship."

"Of course I am. That's why you're dressed like that for lunch."

The door chime interrupted Susan's response so she settled for throwing another pillow at Lisa as she walked to the door. Elijah stood there dressed in a dark blue shirt and black pants.

"Wow," he said. "You look nice."

"A sight better than dirty exercise clothes, right?"

Elijah opened his mouth and then paused. "I'm not sure there's a correct answer for something like that," he said with a sheepish grin. "I'll just say you look lovely in all circumstances and stop there."

"Good answer!" Lisa called from the living room.

"Hello, Marx," Elijah replied.

"Hey Wu," Lisa said as she walked to the door by Susan's side. "Looking sharp."

"Thank you. You're looking… casual."

Lisa grinned down at her hoodie and shorts. "Yeah. It's nice not having to be in uniform sometimes."

"Are you sure you don't want to join us?" Elijah asked.

"And deprive you of quality time? Don't worry about me." She grabbed Susan and performed an odd little spin, slipping Susan's arm through Elijah's before she knew what happened. "Enjoy the boar." She smiled at them. "Try not to… pig out too much."

Susan groaned.

* * *

Elijah didn't bring up the Memorial Wall during lunch, or at any time during the following week. His interactions with Susan grew more distant, more formal. He stayed quiet during PT sessions and left on his own. Susan could no longer see the light-hearted side he'd shown thus far on the Citadel.

She told herself it didn't affect her. She hadn't known him for that long. He was just a squad member. She had no reason to care. It still hurt.

She told Lisa about the change a week after the lunch… outing. She couldn't bring herself to call it a date. The Infiltrator had been teasing her again but quickly grew serious.

"He's scared about getting close," she told Susan. Her playful manner was gone. "I've seen it before. I've _lived_ it before. He's afraid that if he gets close he'd just lose you. There's a lot of that going around this war."

Susan shut her eyes for a moment. "Yes, there is. Maybe he has a point."

"No he doesn't," Lisa almost snarled. "If we're too afraid to live because of what we might lose then we've forgotten what we're fighting for."

Two days after that conversation Wu approached Susan after PT. She stayed quiet as he walked up to her hesitantly.

"I'm going to the Memorial Wall this afternoon," Elijah said quietly. "Would you come with me?"

Susan looked at him for a long moment before nodding. "Is there anything you want to talk about?" she asked.

Elijah hesitated. "Maybe after the Memorial Wall?" he said.

Susan nodded again. "If you ever need anything…"

"I know." He half turned away before looking back at her. "Thank you."

They met later in the afternoon, both wearing dress uniforms by unspoken agreement. The silence of the shuttle ride to the docks held the same distant quality as Susan's earliest interactions with Wu. Susan fiddled with the bag she'd brought while Elijah did likewise with a closed folder.

* * *

The dock bustled with activity. Having been converted into a holding area for refugees from all over the known galaxy, it roared with noise as conversations in a dozen languages filled the air. Shell-shocked humans and batarians mingled. Turians formed their own communities, slipping into their old cultural hierarchies as some took charge while others carried out their orders. Aid workers slipped in and out of impromptu camps, offering medical services or relocation assistance. A C-Sec officer told stories from assorted mythologies to a band of refugee children of different species, their faces rapt at his enthusiastic renditions.

The bustle and noise died down as Susan and Elijah approached the Memorial Wall. The Memorial Wall occupied an entire lounge. Photographs, poems, and sundry memorabilia covered one side of the lounge as mourners stood before them or sat on nearby benches. An asari stood weeping before a picture of a krogan with a goofy grin on his face. A young woman stood near the center of the wall while a familiar looking woman in a blue jumpsuit comforted her.

Elijah halted at the steps leading to the Memorial Wall. Susan walked in, scanning for an empty spot on the wall. Spotting one, she stepped over and withdrew a photo of her brother. He smiled out at her, displaying his engineering diploma. She remembered the graduation ceremony and the party afterward. The memory brought a smile to her face even as she felt her eyes water up. Susan stuck the photo to the wall and let out a deep breath as she wiped tears from her face.

Elijah walked up from behind to her side and squeezed her shoulder briefly. He stepped past her and opened the folder, pulling out a large photograph of a group. There were over a dozen people standing together smiling at the camera. Susan recognized it as a family picture. Elijah held it in his hands as he stood still, gazing down at it. Susan was about to take a step back to give him space when he turned to her.

"This was my father Fang," he said pointing to the man in the center. His voice had a brittle edge to it. "My mother, Sarah." He indicated the woman by his father.

"She has kind eyes," Susan found herself saying.

"She would have liked you," Elijah said. He smiled sadly. "She used to give me a hard time when I went home on leave. 'Why don't you ever bring home a nice soldier girl?' she'd say."

"What did your dad say?"

"He'd always say 'There are no nice soldier girls, they have to be tough out there in the galaxy.'" Elijah sighed. "He was always worried that someday we'd open up a new Mass Relay or make contact with some hostile species and get ourselves in over our heads. He might have had a point."

He pointed out others in the photo. There was his cousin Miriam, a thin-limbed girl on the cusp of adolescence.

"Was she the one who wanted to join the Navy?" Susan asked.

"Yeah. She always thought it would be so exciting to sail through space. My dad and Uncle Tung here," Elijah pointed to another man in the photo, "tried to dissuade her after I joined the N7 program. She didn't listen to them."

He pointed to person after person in the picture. There was his aunt Melissa, who'd possessed nearly preternatural skills in the kitchen and a matching delight in feeding people. There was his uncle Leng who'd fought in the First Contact War. His cousin Thomas, studying at Peking University. His cousin Sheila, the colonial venture investor. Tears streamed down Elijah's face by the time he finished.

He posted the photograph next to the one of Susan's brother and remained there a long moment, his hand pressed to it.

"Goodbye," he choked out in a barely audible whisper. "I'll miss you all."

Elijah started sobbing quietly. Now it was Susan's turn to lay a hand upon his shoulder. As if the contact had drained away the last of his strength he sank down on one knee, sobs wracking his body all the while. Before Susan recognized it she was on one knee beside him, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. She closed her eyes as they stayed there for several minutes, just two grieving souls amid so many.

His sobs lessened and eventually ceased. Susan realized that at some point he'd slumped over against her with his head on her shoulder and she was stroking her hand across his shoulders gently. Elijah stirred and rose, still looking at the photo. Susan stood up after him. He turned towards her and his eyes widened fractionally.

Susan frowned, turned, and felt her own eyes widen. Commander Shepard stood with the woman in the blue jumpsuit a few steps away from the grieving woman she'd seen earlier. She took a closer look and finally realized who the woman in blue was: Ashley Williams, the second human Spectre. She glanced back to the grieving woman and saw the family resemblance, a sister she decided. Elijah took her hand and she looked back at him. He jerked his head towards the exit, the question on his face. She nodded to him.

Shepard and Williams spoke quietly as Susan and Elijah left the Memorial Wall. The quiet sobs of other mourners followed them. They walked to the elevator in silence, Elijah still holding her hand. Nobody else entered and he punched in a level on the Presidium. The door slid shut, drowning out the sounds from the dock.

"I guess even legends and heroes lose loved ones," Elijah said.

"Everybody's lost something this war," Susan said. "At the end of the day, they're just people too."

"You're right," Elijah said as he wiped his eyes. "And it makes me feel better knowing that. Not that they've lost people, but that… well, the fact that they have, but life goes on."

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped out into the pristine architecture of the Presidium. Elijah looked around and moved purposefully up the walkway. Susan took several large steps to catch up.

"Where are we going?"

He paused. "I never asked you, did I?"

"About what?"

"There's a little café around here I discovered my first time on the Citadel," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "They made fantastic coffee the old-fashioned way. I make a point to visit every time I'm here. So… would you like to join me?"

"I'd love to," Susan smiled.

"It's up this way," he gestured.

"I didn't know you were a coffee enthusiast," Susan said as they walked along one of the Presidium's indoor lakes.

"Both my parents were avid coffee drinkers," he replied. "They were both a little nutty about the grind, the water temperature, the brewing time, all that stuff."

Elijah went quiet, and Susan feared he was withdrawing again at the mention of his family. Then he took a breath and released it.

"I never understood it when I was younger," he said. "It all seemed so fussy. I mean, as long as you got the caffeine into your system, what else did you need?"

Susan raised an eyebrow. "The flavor?"

"That's what they tried to teach me. I didn't really learn until I went off to basic and really experienced bad coffee."

"You mean that tar they served in the messes?"

"The same," Elijah said. "It wasn't until it was gone that I really learned to appreciate it."

"That's often the way it is."

"Yeah. Maybe I don't have to make the same mistake again…" He trailed off, and then pointed as they approached a door. "Here it is."

* * *

The door opened into a brightly lit space with minimal decoration and austere lines. Tall round tables and high backed chairs perched at regular intervals around the space. Customers chatted where they sat and stood. One entire side was dominated by a counter with neatly arranged coffee apparatuses and pastries on display. The hulking quadruped form of an elcor wearing a harness of some kind stood behind the counter.

"Courteously: Welcome," he greeted them in the elcor monotone. "Feel free to peruse the menus."

Susan looked over the array of brews on display. The menus referenced beans grown, harvested, and processed under a dizzying variety of environments and styles from different planets. Finally she gave up.

"You know what's good here," she said to Elijah. "I think this is beyond me."

"It's not so complicated once you get used to it," he said. Nevertheless he stepped over to the barista and ordered two drinks Susan had never heard of.

"Courteously: Your uniforms indicate you are Alliance military," the barista said. "Drinks are half price with valid military identification."

Elijah and Susan presented their IDs. The elcor looked at Susan's ID for a long moment and looked back at her, his face its typical stoic mask.

"With pleasant surprise: Are you Susan Rizzi, the N7 biotic?"

'Yes, that's me." Susan had a good idea where this was going.

"Gleefully: It is a pleasure to meet you. The extranet video of your displeasure with the procurement officer was extremely popular with military patrons of this establishment."

Susan sighed. "Thank you, I guess."

"Sincerely: It will be a delight to prepare coffee for the 'Furious Graal,'" the barista said as he turned to the counter.

Watching the elcor brew coffee was a new experience for Susan. The barista set about his task with a focus and intensity that put some fighter pilots to shame. His harness unfolded itself into a set of mechanical arms tipped with manipulators and thermometers. Everything from the weight of the beans to the grind to the water temperature was excruciatingly measured.

"I've never seen an elcor make coffee before," Susan said to Elijah. "I didn't know they even drank it."

"Well it makes sense if you think about it," Elijah replied as they watched the elcor laboriously pouring water over the grind at a steady rate. "They have very developed senses of smell, and they have that patience to really focus on doing every step right."

"It certainly looks that way," Susan admitted. It looked like the barista was tracking the coffee dripping into the mugs by the milliliter. His mechanical arms whisked their mugs away from under the drip filters.

"With professional pride: Your coffee is ready," he said as the arms placed the mugs on the counter before them. "Jokingly: Please refrain from forcibly inserting firearms to my orifices should it not be to your liking."

"Don't worry, she only does that to procurement officers," Elijah said with a grin as he took the mugs. Susan shot him a mock glare as he nodded at an empty table.

"I also do it to smart-mouthed Spec Ops team members," Susan said as they sat down.

"That means Marx is first on the list then."

Susan grinned. "True enough." She took a sip of her coffee and felt her eyes widen. It tasted fantastic, easily some of the best she'd had.

"So… I need to apologize about my behavior earlier," Elijah said as his face turned serious.

"I won't argue with that," Susan nodded.

"You also asked me if there was anything I wanted to talk about earlier today."

"And you said after the Memorial Wall."

"Yes. First, I'm sorry for the way I acted."

"Does it have something to do with what you wanted to talk about?"

Elijah ran a hand over his face. "Yeah… I don't know how to say this without sounding strange, so… you make me happy."

Susan felt a warm bubble surging within her that she quickly burst. "You have a strange way of showing it."

"That's the thing," Elijah said. "I felt… guilty about enjoying myself. Like I was betraying the memory of my family if I let myself be happy."

"I don't think your family would have wanted you to be miserable."

"I know they wouldn't." Elijah shook his head. "But _I_ felt I had to. Like if I let myself move on… then they'd really be gone. That's why I pulled back. I needed the time and space to figure things out. And thank you for giving it to me."

"And what did you figure out?" Susan asked.

"That you were right," he said. "That we honor our loved ones by living as fully as we can." He closed his eyes for a moment. "That's one thing the Memorial Wall sort of… represented for me. Letting go. Moving on. Or at least, starting to."

"I'm happy for you," Susan said. "There's enough sorrow and heartbreak without us choosing to live in it."

"You're right about that too." He hesitated for a moment and Susan read the trepidation on his face. "Like I said, you make me happy when I'm with you. The joys come easier and the sorrows don't cut as deep."

The warm flutter in Susan's chest started again. She didn't say anything, just reached across the table and took his hand. Elijah closed his eyes, the trepidation melting into a peace that Susan had rarely seen in him.

"I don't know if I'm in a place yet where I can… do anything," he said. "But I wanted to tell you that… you're important to me."

"And you to me," Susan said quietly. She grinned. "More than I would have expected given how we started off."

Elijah grinned back and rubbed his chin. "You do pack quite a punch."

"At least I didn't use a Graal." She took another sip of the coffee. "This is really good."

"'Psycho Taiko' recommended this place to me, if you can believe that," Elijah said, referencing their zero-G combat instructor from the N7 program.

"Akitaiko?! No…"

"Yes. The man's a coffee enthusiast."

"The only thing I would have believed him enthusiastic about is making people miserable," Susan said. She shook her head. "People surprise you."

"He also loved chocolate," Elijah added. He chuckled at Susan's expression. "That was the other reason he recommended this place. They have some fantastic pastries."

"And you didn't mention that?"

"I didn't think you were hungry."

"There's always room for chocolate," Susan said as she turned to the counter.

Both of their omni-tools chirped simultaneously. Susan stopped and checked. She was expecting a muster order and frowned when she saw it was an order to report to a briefing at their apartment complex. She looked up at Elijah and asked, "Did you just get the same briefing summon?"

"Yes," he said as he stood up. "Strange. Have you heard anything about the _Salvador_ repairs?"

"No." Susan sighed and finished her coffee. "Come on, no pastries this time."

"Does that mean there'll be a next time?" Elijah smiled.

Susan grinned as they headed for the exit. "Only if there's chocolate."


	13. Operation Ballroom

Captain Banafsheh had converted one of the apartment building's little common rooms into an impromptu briefing room. A portable projector sat on a table in the center of the room while two other crates sat underneath it. Banafsheh was speaking quietly with a female turian in a C-Sec uniform when Susan and Elijah entered. Lisa and Maiena sat in chairs around the table, each looking through data pads.

Banafsheh gave a rare smile as she turned to Susan and Elijah. "It's good to see you two," she said. "I'm sorry we couldn't give you more time to recover, but that's the way this war is going. Please be seated."

She turned to the C-Sec officer as Susan and Elijah took the other seats around the table. "This is Captain Lasus from C-Sec. This will be a joint operation that takes place on the Citadel."

"A pleasure to meet you," Lasus said as she stepped to the table. "I take it you're all aware of the recent attack by Cerberus forces on the Citadel."

"Kind of hard to miss," Lisa said as the others nodded. She frowned. "Don't tell me there're still Cerberus guys running around here."

"Honestly, we're not sure," Lasus replied. "With all the ensuing chaos it's possible some elements slipped away and are hiding somewhere on the station. That's part of the reason we approached the Special Ops teams."

"You want us to hunt them down for you?" Maiena asked.

"No. We appreciate the offer, but the population is already on edge enough without heavily armed commando teams roaming around. We have investigators looking into it. It's what else they've turned up that concerns us."

"C-Sec's uncovered a plan to poison incoming food shipments to the Citadel," Banafsheh said.

"Cerberus?" said Wu.

"Most likely."

Lisa frowned. "What would Cerberus get from poisoning food on the Citadel? I thought they wanted this place."

"They want power," Susan said. She frowned thoughtfully. "We know they've been picking off refugee convoys where they can, kidnapping people to indoctrinate them."

"And modifying them," Maiena said. "Recovered corpses bear remarkable similarities to husks."

Susan nodded. "Most refugee convoys come to the Citadel first. If Cerberus can cause enough of a panic…"

"Like poisoning the Citadel's food…" Elijah said, comprehension dawning in his eyes.

"Refugees would head for other, less defended places," Susan finished.

"Those bastards," Lisa said as she sat back and crossed her arms.

"What do you need us to do?" Elijah asked the C-Sec Captain.

"We have multiple informants with information on shipments, dates, places, you name it," Lasus said. "We need you to meet with those informants and get that information to us so we can make arrests and stop poisoned shipments."

Maiena frowned. "Isn't this C-Sec's jurisdiction, Captain?"

"It is, yes," Banafsheh said. "They are shorthanded in the aftermath of the Cerberus attack and have requested our assistance with this."

Lasus cleared her throat and panned her gaze over the assembled operatives. "What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, understand?"

The team chorused their acknowledgment.

Lasus sighed. "Cerberus took control of C-Sec headquarters during that attack," she said. "Officially, HQ was retaken before anything was compromised."

"And unofficially?" Lisa said with a raised eyebrow.

"Cerberus downloaded the profiles of all active C-Sec officers. Including all of our undercover investigators."

"Well, that's not good."

"No, it isn't." Lasus sat down. "It's too dangerous to send in our investigators right now with their identities compromised, for both the officers in question and the informants."

"So you're sending us instead?" Maiena said.

"It's good to be expendable," Lisa stage whispered to her.

"No, please! That's not it," Lasus said hurriedly. "We're hoping that you're an unknown element here, that you won't attract attention by meeting with the informants."

"Not to belabor the point," Lisa said, "but I carry around a Widow. That _kind of_ attracts attention on the Citadel. And have you seen Rizzi's faceplate? That thing looks designed to make grown men soil themselves."

"You won't be in your arms and armor for this," Banafsheh said.

"Oh this just gets better and better."

"Relax, Lieutenant." Banafsheh reached down and picked up one of the crates, moving it to the table. "You're going undercover, but you won't be helpless."

She unlocked the crate and brought out what looked like a compact pistol, all smooth lines reminiscent of salarian designed weapons. She set it on the table and brought out three more identical weapons.

"This was put together by STG research teams," Lasus said. "It's a non-lethal option for these sorts of operations." She picked one up, demonstrating its operation. "It projects a narrow-beam neural shock that paralyzes and incapacitates organic targets for up to a half hour, though it's less effective against armored targets. The rechargeable pack is good for fifty shots."

"Fancy," Susan said. "What are they called?"

"They're designated NSTEs, which stands for Neural Shock, Targeted Emitter."

Lisa snorted. "Nasties?"

"Yes they are," Lasus said. "We really hope you won't need to use these."

"Remember you're not on the battlefield here," Banafsheh added. "If you kill somebody, you're filling out all the paperwork."

Lasus' eyes widened. "Please, don't kill anybody."

"I was joking."

"In any event," Lasus said as she shook her head, "we need your team to meet with two informants. One is from Tayseri Ward and has agreed to a hand-off in the Gaeron Botanical Gardens. Lieutenant Marx and Huntress K'Thane will handle that. The other informant is… slightly more eccentric. He demands a meet at an upcoming social event here in Kithoi Ward. Lieutenants Rizzi and Wu will take care of that. There are more details on your data pads."

The operatives looked over their data pads for specifics. Susan nodded at the information presented. The informant was Jorat Ven, a volus shipping owner. He was fond of flaunting his wealth, and had connections with multiple corporations. She frowned at the contact phrase.

"I burned the soufflé?" she asked Lasus.

"He has a fondness for old human films," the turian explained. "I don't understand the reference myself." She cleared her throat and looked at the other operatives. "Any other questions?"

"What do we do once we have the info?" Lisa said.

"Bring it back here," Banafsheh said. "Captain Lasus and I will remain here and handle things afterward."

"And what if things go wrong?" Elijah asked. "If the informants are not on the level?"

"Special Response teams will be standing by. There are contact frequencies on the data pads. Call it in if anything goes wrong," Lasus said.

"Let me reiterate: No shooting civilians," Banafsheh added. "No shooting up the environment either. If at all possible, no shooting, period. I understand this is different from your typical modus operandi. You walk in. You make contact. You get the information. You walk out. You come back here."

"Aye aye, Captain," Lisa said.

"Good. Marx, K'Thane, dismissed." Banafsheh turned to Susan and Elijah as their squad members left the room. "Rizzi, Wu, you're going to have a little more to do. You need to blend in at this event."

"What _is _this event, Captain?" Susan said.

"It's a formal ball."

"How formal? Wait. Did you say 'ball?'"

"Ball," Banafsheh nodded. "It's called the Victory Ball, hosted by the Elkoss Combine and ExSolar Shipping."

"Victory?" Elijah said. "That's a little premature."

"Morale is important. And it's black tie," Banafsheh said. "Am I correct in assuming that neither of you have the formal wear for such an occasion?"

"Our dress uniforms?" Elijah suggested.

"I'd rather not," Lasus said. "We don't want to advertise that you're Alliance military."

"It's a good thing we have a budget for this," Banafsheh said.

"We have a budget for formal wear to infiltrate balls on the Citadel?" Susan asked.

Banafsheh shrugged. "I can qualify it as a special op. It _is_ important to the war effort."

Elijah and Susan exchanged glances. "Works for me," he said.

"Operation Ballroom it is," Susan said.

"All right then," Banafsheh said. "You both need to acquire formal wear. Buy it, rent it, I don't care. Just get it done ASAP and we'll reimburse you afterwards."

"Is there an upper limit?" Susan asked.

Banafsheh raised her eyebrows. "I won't set a formal limit," she said. "I'm a little out of touch with fashion as it is. I will say however, try to remember we're fighting a war against galactic extinction and price accordingly."

"Aye, ma'am."

* * *

Elijah Wu's jaw dropped when Susan opened her apartment door. She smiled at his reaction, twirling once to get her evening gown flowing.

"I take it you approve then?" she said.

"I… You… Uh… Wow." He blinked twice. "You look amazing."

Susan looked down at her black evening gown. The asari designer she'd gone to on the Presidium had looked her over and taken measurements for several minutes. The procedure reminded Susan of getting fitted for her battle armor. The designer had then disappeared into the back of her boutique before emerging with a floor length dress that she declared highlighted Susan's "appeal to all eternity."

The black silk number put her regular "formal" dress to shame. It was cut down to _here_ and slit up to _there _and exuded a combination of class and sex appeal. At least, it did if Wu's face was anything to go by.

"Thank you. It's not my usual outfit," she said as she eyed Elijah up and down. "You look quite good yourself." She smiled at him as she reached up and adjusted his bow tie slightly. "The tux suits you."

"Thank you." He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

"Working on blending in already?" she asked as she slipped her arm through his.

"I am a little out of practice," he said as they strolled down the central staircase to the ground floor. They'd arranged for a skycar earlier and it was waiting for them at the apartment entrance. Elijah opened the door for Susan before climbing in himself on the other side. "Commence Operation Ballroom," he grinned as their VI driver smoothly accelerated.

"You're going to spoil me tonight, aren't you?" Susan smiled.

"We're trying to maintain a cover, aren't we?"

"That's a fair reason," she admitted.

"And you're a lovely lady who deserves to have attention lavished upon her."

"Ooh, an even better reason."

The skycar took nearly ten minutes to reach the large white building where the ball was occurring. Elijah eyed Susan several times with a curious expression during the trip. They waited another five minutes as their skycar sat in the line to pull up to the entrance. Once again Elijah opened Susan's door and helped her out. He also looked her over again.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him quietly.

He shook his head. "I just keep wondering where you keep your Nasty in that outfit," he said. They both paused and his lips twitched. "That came out wrong."

Susan gave him a wicked smile. "Keep acting like such a gentleman and you just might find out tonight."

Elijah opened and closed his mouth several times as his brain tried to formulate a response. Still smiling, Susan slipped her arm through his and swung them towards the entrance.

"Shall we?" she said. Elijah nodded mutely and Susan laughed._ This is going to be fun._

A veritable catalog of Citadel species lined the entrance approach to the inside. Asari in fashionable gowns mingled with turians in austere suits. Salarians chatted with humans, hanar, and elcor. The ball assembled individuals from many backgrounds, but most of the attendees were among the rich and influential and the décor and atmosphere reflected that.

Classical music sounded gently as they entered the hall. Dancers dominated a large central floor while tables and seats off to the side offered all sorts of refreshments. People in all sorts of formal wear mingled in pairs or small groups while servers in immaculate uniforms deftly navigated the crowd, offering food and beverages.

"This is nice," Elijah nodded as he looked around. He snatched two champagne glasses from a passing server and handed one to Susan. "Definitely a step up from Purgatory."

"Lieutenant Wu, I'm shocked that you would be found at such an establishment." Susan took a sip and grinned. "They make really good Eezo Blasters."

Elijah gave her a rueful smile. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind should I find myself there, undoubtedly on formal business."

"Oh, undoubtedly." They smiled at each other as they moved through the large hall.

"Do you see Ven?" Elijah asked.

"No, you?"

He shook his head. "Maybe he's not here yet."

"Rizzi?" A familiar voice sounded from the left. Susan turned at the raspy voice- and burst into laughter.

"Grahzshik?!" she said once managed to stop laughing. "What are you doing here- and what are you wearing?!"

The vorcha stood before them wearing an old-fashioned formal tuxedo complete with long coat-tails and a black bow tie. A black top hat completed the outfit. Susan took a closer look and saw it was made of surprisingly good material.

"Oh, this?" Grahzshik looked down at his tuxedo. "Company sponsored. Say me hero!" He shrugged. "Me not know how that happen. Was in Kepler Verge with squad. We deploy on mission. Had journalist with us." He shook his head. "Bad idea. Had to keep telling him: husk not your friend- stay back! No take picture of Brute from front- they charge! So. Me kill Banshee with fire. Journalist took video. Suddenly, me hero! Company say, shows vorcha contribution to war!"

"You killed a Banshee?" Elijah sounded impressed.

Grahzshik shrugged again. "Me use lots of fire. Journalist say 'too much smoke!' Me say 'want Banshee dead or not?'"

"Ah, Grahzshik, this is Elijah Wu," Susan said. "Elijah, Grahzshik. We did a mission on Verdanta a little while ago."

"Pleasure to meet you," Elijah said as he shook Grahzshik's hand.

"You soldier too?" Grahzshik asked.

"Is it that obvious?"

Grahzshik cocked his head. "You have…" He snarled something the translator couldn't decipher. "In your tongue, means 'eyes that know truth of battle.'"

"I see," Elijah said. "If you would, please don't advertise that fact."

"Ohh." Grahzshik lowered his voice. "You here on mission?"

"Let's just say we have a purpose for being here," Susan said.

"Ahh, no problem. Me not say anything." He nodded at them again. "I walk away now. If you need… distraction, let me know." Grahzshik tipped his hat at them and moved off.

"Good to know we have a potential asset if need be," Elijah said quietly as they watched him greet other attendees.

"I don't think C-Sec would like it if the building burned down."

"Oh come on, he won't actually-"

"I deployed with him. I'll tell you about it sometime."

"Fine. We'll call that… Plan F."

"Plan F?"

"As in, the situation is totally f-'"

"Gotcha." Susan smiled as she looked around more. "Let's do this nice and smooth," she said. "We'll find Ven, get the information, and pass it on. Neat and efficient." She set her glass on a passing server's tray with a nod. "As soon as we finish dancing."

"Right." Elijah nodded and then twisted his head to look at her. "Wait, what?"

"We're supposed to be blending in. I got dressed up for this," Susan said. "As a matter of fact, so did you. We are dancing."

"I don't know how to," he protested.

"No, I've seen you with your sword," she said as she tugged him gently towards the dance floor. "You know how to move."

"That's different."

"It can't be that different," Susan said. "Besides, you're probably a better dancer than Commander Shepard."

"Well that's a low bar to set."

"Hush." Susan smiled at him as the music changed to a waltz. "See? Something easy."

Elijah opened his mouth to protest right as Susan took his hand and put it on her waist. She stepped in close. He was suddenly very aware of the sensation of her warm flesh enclosed in silk.

"On second thought, blending in is good."

They started dancing, slowly and awkwardly at first, then more smoothly as they found their tempos. Susan felt the smile on her face match Elijah's. They were by no means the most proficient dancers on the floor but neither cared at the moment. The song ended and they broke apart reluctantly.

"That was fun," Elijah said. "We should do this more often for PT."

"I like that idea," Susan said. Her eyes flickered over his shoulder and she grew serious. "I think I've got our informant. He just came in."

Wu turned halfway and headed for one of the refreshment tables as Rizzi walked to an empty chair facing the entrance. He glanced towards the entrance. There stood a volus surrounded by what looked like staff or bodyguards. The volus wore a gaudy pressure suit festooned with gemstones and strips of gold. Wu collected a small plate of finger foods and brought them over to Rizzi, who'd been keeping a discrete eye on the volus' party.

"He certainly looks like our guy," Wu said as he leaned in and offered her the plate. "But honestly, I have a hard time telling one volus from another."

"Same here," Rizzi said. She made a show of perusing the snacks. "That suit fits the C-Sec description pretty well."

"True. How do you want to play this?"

Rizzi picked up a piece of artfully sliced fruit and chewed it as she thought. "Let's go direct but not… awkward."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means… just follow my lead."

Wu shrugged. "We've had worse plans."

Rizzi led the way to the volus. His party eyed them with a mix of apprehension, curiosity, and hostility. The volus himself, features concealed by his pressure suit, just watched them approach through his gold-tinted lenses.

"Yes, Earth-clan," he said. "What may I do for you?"

"Are you Jorat Ven, by any chance?" Rizzi said. Some of the volus' group repositioned themselves or adjusted stances. It was slight, but to the two battle-hardened N7s it spoke volumes.

"Yes, I am he," Ven said.

"Oh, I just loved your soufflé recipe!" Rizzi said. "But I'm afraid the first time I tried to make it, I burned the soufflé."

The volus stiffened. "Ah yes. I… must confess to the opposite problem, Earth-clan. The first time I tried to make a soufflé, I forgot to turn the oven on." There was the confirmation phrase.

"A shame," Wu said. "Were you unhappily in love then?"

"Quite, quite." Ven nodded at the final code phrase and looked around at his party. "Perhaps I can tell you the story in private?"

Ven's entourage spread out, forming a subtle perimeter as the volus headed for an unoccupied area in the hall. Rizzi and Wu followed silently. Ven turned to them once they were suitably alone.

"You're not my usual contacts," he said.

"No, we're not," Rizzi said.

"I won't ask," Ven said. "Something tells me I don't want to know."

"Just give us the info and we'll be gone," Wu promised.

"Yes… about that." Ven shrugged. "It's not on me."

"Why not?"

"You're crazy if you think I'd walk around with that kind of information," Ven said. "It's in one of my offices, on a secure system. You'll have to come with me if you want it."

"And where is this office?" Susan asked.

"It's in Cargo Bay Ninety, on the ring. I have a car waiting: we can leave immediately."

The volus waddled towards the entrance, giving quiet instructions to his entourage. Wu stepped closer to Rizzi.

"Ambush?" he said quietly.

"Ambush," Susan nodded. "We don't really have a choice here. We'll just stay calm until something happens. Keep your barriers charged and your Nasty ready." She frowned. "I can't believe I just said that."

"My Nasty is always ready." Wu grinned, loosened his jacket and started after Jorat Ven. "So much for nice and smooth."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This chapter was originally just part of another one. Then people started snarking during the briefing, Grahzshik showed up in a tux, I had waltz music on while writing the ball, and before I knew it this one just kind of ran away from me. Please forgive my indulgence here.


	14. Just Peachy

Jorat Ven dismissed most of his party as they left the hall, instructing them to mingle as representatives of his company at the ball. Two people accompanied him, a batarian and thickset human, obviously muscle. They headed towards a bright red skycar festooned with neon violet flame designs. Rizzi and Wu followed a few steps behind Ven's guards.

"Subtle," Rizzi said quietly to Wu.

"Maybe he'll let us borrow it as a decoy against the Reapers."

The bodyguards ushered them into the back seats, sandwiching them in the middle while Ven climbed in front, separated by a shaded screen. The skycar pushed off with a smooth purr and slipped through traffic towards the Citadel ring. Neither of Ven's guards spoke during the trip and Rizzi stayed alert, expecting an attack at any moment. They paid just as much attention to the skycar exterior, leading Rizzi to wonder what Ven's plan was.

The skycar eventually slipped into a large cargo bay. Bulk crates and containers covered the floor while a network of catwalks and walkways above led to doorways, offices, and facilities. The bay lit up brightly as the car entered. Rizzi couldn't see any workers or active machinery. Ven parked the car between two containers twice Rizzi's height. His guards wordlessly motioned for the N7s to get out.

"This way," Ven said and headed towards an open-sided lift at the end of an L-shaped catwalk. Rizzi and Wu followed the volus, keeping an eye on their surroundings the whole time. The human guard remained by the car while the batarian joined Ven and the operatives. Rizzi and Wu exchanged glances: this wasn't making sense for an ambush.

The lift went up to the network of catwalks and walkways nearly seven meters above the cargo bay floor. The scent of various fruits and vegetables filled the air. Rizzi took a closer look at the shipping containers and saw they were marked with various agricultural symbols and brands. Ven led the way towards a door at the end of the bay.

"You understand, this information must not be traced back to me," he said. "Once I pass it to you, our business is concluded. I'll return to the ball and we won't see each other again."

"No problem," Rizzi said. "We'll be gone once we've got that info."

Ven unlocked the door, revealing an opulent office fitted for a volus. To Rizzi's surprise it was empty. He walked to a wall safe behind the desk and punched in a code while the batarian took up a spot in the corner.

"This information wasn't easy to get, you know."

"I'm sure it wasn't."

The lights across the bay died. Rizzi put her back to the doorframe and drew the NSTE from its holster on her inner thigh, absurdly relieved that the darkness hid that particular action. She slipped her heels off and peeked out, though it was in vain. She heard Wu giving quiet directions to Jorat Ven.

The lights came back on. Rizzi took another quick look out into the cargo bay. It looked unchanged and still empty. The batarian guard hadn't moved from his position. Ven walked around the desk, pushing past Wu who'd positioned himself between the volus and the door.

"Oh relax," Ven said. "That's been happening all last week. I keep complaining to power management. They tell me power's being rationed with the war on and this is one of the side effects."

"That's convenient timing," Wu said.

"Oh please," Ven replied. "There's been nothing convenient about the work interruptions." He went back to the safe. "Oh by the infernal monopolies, the blackout's reset the safe. I need to re-enter the code."

"The sooner you get started, the sooner we're out of your… uh, suit."

Rizzi heard a quiet thud out in the cargo bay. Wu turned to the doorway.

"Did you hear that?" she asked. He nodded. "I'll take a look, stay with him," she said as she nodded at Ven, who was muttering to himself as he re-entered the safe code.

She walked out along the walkway, Nasty in a two-handed grip and looking around left and right. She was about halfway down the walkway when she looked down at the garish skycar they'd arrived in and frowned. The guard was gone. She took another few steps and her frown deepened. The guard wasn't gone, he was down. He sprawled on the other side of the car, dead or unconscious.

Rizzi turned back towards the office. There was a crash as a container somewhere opened. The hiss of jump jets sounded. Two men in full body suits of slate gray armor soared up to the walkway over the rails on either side of Rizzi. The closely set eye lenses of their helmets glowed pale blue. They held Tempest SMGs casually.

"Hey gorgeous," said the man on the far side from the office. His voice was an electronic growl. "You look a little lost… and smokin' hot!"

Rizzi didn't reply. She heard more movement down below. Without her armor's power systems her barriers were nowhere near as strong as she'd like.

"Now we're not here to kill anybody," the armored figure continued. He looked her up and down again. "It'd be a real shame in your case. We're just here for the volus, so why don't you put the little toy gun down and-"

Rizzi snapped her NSTE up and shot him in the face. The little pistol emitted a whine along with a red pulsing beam. He convulsed and twitched, going down to his knees as the other man behind Rizzi cursed. She whirled, aimed, and the Nasty blurted a negative-sounding tone when she squeezed the trigger. The downed hostile behind her groaned.

"Looks like you can't handle more than one of us at a time, sweetheart," said the man between her and the office. He raised his Tempest but didn't quite aim it at her. A piercing whine sounded as he convulsed and collapsed. Wu stood in the office doorway, his Nasty extended. Rizzi looked down at her own weapon. A small glowing bar ran along the left side of the frame, slowly refilling. She assumed it was an indicator for the Nasty's charge level for each shot.

The first hostile she'd shot stood back up as four more identically armored troopers jump jetted up to the walkway. _Effectiveness reduced by armor indeed_, Rizzi thought. She mentally designated him Target One. "Is that all you've got?" he rasped. A shot rang out and one of the armored men staggered. They turned back to the office to see the batarian guard standing in the doorway with a pistol in hand. The closest man shot the guard once and he collapsed. Rizzi saw Wu drag the batarian behind cover.

"Dammit Hans," said Target One. "You know we aren't supposed to be shooting people this job."

"What?" Hans replied. "He shot first! Besides, it's just a flesh wound, I swear!"

"That's what you said when you lopped off that hanar's tentacles," Target One said. "All of them." He stepped closer to Rizzi and sighed. "Now, you're making me angry. I would have just let you go, but then you went and shot me. I'm inclined to make you-"

Rizzi hit him with a Biotic Throw in the leg. She didn't use full power, mindful of C-Sec's request they stick to non-lethal force. The impact still blew his feet out from under him and dumped him on his face. At the same time she pivoted and fired her Nasty into the next closest armored man, making him convulse.

"Biotic!" one of them called. The others piled in, seeking to grapple Rizzi and interfere with her mnemonic gestures. One grabbed her arms while another went for her legs. She responded with a pulse of biotic force that hurled them all back against the railing. Rizzi nearly activated her Annihilation Field before forcing herself to hold back.

One of the gray-armored men grunted as Wu slammed into him and sent him tumbling across the walkway. Rizzi knocked another one off his feet with a Throw before locking an arm in a hold and slamming the man's head into the walkway railing. He went down and stayed down. Wu slapped aside a Tempest with his left hand while parrying a stun baton with his right forearm. Rizzi knocked the baton wielder out with a Throw as Wu, hand glowing with biotic energy, delivered a palm strike to the faceplate of the one whose Tempest he'd knocked away.

One of the remaining hostiles hit Rizzi with an Overload at point blank range, disrupting her barriers and making her arms and legs jolt as she dropped her Nasty. She responded with a Throw that spun him through the air in a circle and dropped him to the walkway groaning.

She was still shaking off the aftereffects of the Overload when pair of armored arms wrapped around her in a bear hug from behind. The hostile lifted her up- and threw her over the railing off the seven meter tall walkway.

"Susan!" Elijah cried as a wet thud sounded from below. He launched himself into a Biotic Charge at the last enemy standing, the one who'd thrown Rizzi over. He followed with two quick strikes and a kick and just barely stopped himself from crushing the man's skull. Elijah knocked the dazed hostile out with an elbow strike and rushed to the walkway edge where he'd seen Susan go over, expecting the worst.

Elijah gave a sigh of relief as he looked down. A massive, open-topped container filled with fruit came up to just under two meters below the walkway. Susan lay sprawled within.

"Susan!" Elijah said again. "Are you alright?!"

Susan lifted her head and looked around at the particular kind of fruit she lay in before looking back up at Elijah. "You could say… I'm just peachy." A giggle escaped from her.

Elijah shook his head, trying to keep a straight face. He lost that battle, his face cracking into a wry grin. "Are you basking in the fruits of your labors?" he said.

Susan groaned and gave him a mock glare.

"It's a good thing you don't bruise like a peach," he added.

"Terrible," Susan said as she shook her head. "Help me up."

Elijah bent down under the rail and extended a hand as Susan sat up and made her way to the edge of the container. She pulled herself up over the edge of the container and caught his hand. Elijah hauled her upwards and Susan grabbed the walkway edge, pulling herself up over the rail.

"You smell nice," Elijah said before he could stop himself.

Susan gave him a crooked grin. "You say the nicest things after I fall into a giant box of produce," she said as she brushed a piece of crushed peach from her thigh.

"I… I just meant that I've liked peaches since I was a kid. The smell…" He trailed off as Susan snatched another piece of pulp sliding towards her cleavage and flicked it away. She noticed his gaze and gave him another playful smile.

"Eyes front, soldier."

Elijah blushed. "Sorry. That was inappropriate of me and I-"

Susan shushed him. "I'm just teasing you. The attention is flattering, really. But-"

"Right now we have a job to do," Elijah finished.

"Exactly." Susan retrieved her Nasty and looked over the unconscious bodies. "I guess we're supposed to call C-Sec."

"Already done." Elijah jerked his head towards the office. "I contacted the Special Response team while you were distracting these guys. They should be here soon."

"So that's what took you so long," Susan smirked. She picked up one of the fallen Tempests. "Let's hope they get here fast and get this done. I could really use a shower after this…"

Elijah tried to stop his mind from going where _that_ image conjured up. "Uh, right," he said. "Ven is kind of panicking right now. I don't think this was part of his evening plans."

"And this was part of yours?"

He thought for a moment. "No, no I can't say it was.

Susan grinned and shook her head. "I'll calm the volus down. Keep an eye on these guys."

She started walking towards the office. Elijah watched her move away. Sticky with peach juice, the dress clung to her figure in very interesting ways.

"I said watch _those_ guys," Susan called without turning around. He practically heard the grin in her voice. Elijah smiled himself, retrieved a Tempest, and moved to cover all the fallen hostiles while waiting for C-Sec.

* * *

It took Susan several minutes to calm Jorat Ven down. He practically went into hysterics at her suggestion to take deep breaths. By the time he'd collected himself enough to open the safe the Special Response team was on the scene and securing the downed attackers. A medical team tended to Ven's guards. The human had just been knocked unconscious with a stun baton and was grouchy but otherwise fine. The batarian was bleeding but in no other danger. It really was just a flesh wound. Elijah explained what had happened to the salarian team leader while Susan collected the data drive from Ven and then escorted him to the team leader.

"Good evening Lieutenant," the salarian said. "I was just telling your partner here that these attackers are part of a mercenary group we've been hearing reports about."

"Look, you have to protect me!" Ven cried. "I've done my civic duty. These thugs were here for me! You can't let them get me, I have my rights!"

"Calm down. We'll take you into protective custody right away." The team leader turned back to Susan and Elijah. "We can take you anywhere you need to go in the Citadel. I understand you need to secure some data?"

"Thank you Sergeant," Susan said. "We'll take you up on that offer."

The salarian indicated an armored shuttle. "Right this way."

The C-Sec transport took the operatives straight back to the apartment complex where they made their way to the converted briefing room. Off-duty Special Ops members watched the two in their formalwear with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

Lasus and Banafsheh waited in the room, distinctly marked mugs of coffee on the table before them. They both turned to the door as Susan and Elijah entered.

"There you are," Lasus said. "We got a report from Sergeant Quot about a call from the ring."

"He was kind enough to offer us a ride back here," Susan said. She handed over the data drive as Elijah gave a quick explanation of the night's events to the captains.

"That group sounds like CAT6 from your description," Banafsheh said. "Many members have dishonorable discharges, criminal records and the like. We've suspected ties to Cerberus for a while now."

"Thank you for taking them alive," Lasus said. She smiled. "That really would have been a lot of paperwork if you'd killed them." The smile faded. "Please don't tell my superiors I said that."

Banafsheh looked between Lasus and the N7s. "You're the last ones back," she said. "I think that about wraps it up for Operation Ballroom."

Lasus cleared her throat. "I also need you to return the NSTEs."

"They're not very effective against anybody in armor," Elijah remarked.

"There wasn't supposed to be a heavily armed mercenary band involved at any point in this," Lasus replied.

"Well, no plan survives contact with the enemy," Susan said.

"And no evening gown with… what happened to you anyways?" Banafsheh said.

Susan sighed. "One of the mercs tossed me into a shipping container full of fruit."

Banafsheh gave her a blank stare.

"The mercs were mostly using non-lethal methods," Susan added. "They mentioned it was part of the job."

"Thanks for the info," Lasus said. "We'll be sure to ask them about it in interrogation." She set a crate on the table. "Now the weapons, please."

Elijah reached into his jacket and disconnected the holster holding the Nasty from his shoulder rig. He drew the weapon and ejected its charge pack before placing them all in the crate. Lasus turned to Susan expectantly.

Susan sighed again. She spun one of the chairs around and put her left foot on the seat, baring nearly the entire length of her leg through the gown's slit. Elijah's eyes widened and she gave him a wink as she undid the strap binding the little holster to her inner thigh. She repeated the unloading procedure and placed the weapon and holster into the crate.

"That can't be regulation carry," Banafsheh commented. "But seeing as you're not exactly in regulation uniform, I think we can give that a pass."

"That can't have been comfortable," Lasus added.

"It does make dancing a little difficult," Susan said.

"I can imagine," Banafsheh said. "In any event, good work, Lieutenants. We'll put this information to good use." She nodded to Susan. "I imagine you want to get cleaned up."

"Aye ma'am."

Susan and Elijah saluted and left the room.

* * *

They took the spiral staircase up towards their apartments. "So…" Elijah said partway up.

"So…"

"Interesting evening," he said. "I'm glad you're alright. When that merc tossed you off the walkway I thought… well, it didn't sound good."

"You mean the splat?"

"Yeah."

"Violence against produce appears to be a thing with my recent missions," she said. Elijah looked at her in confusion. "Part of that mission with Grahzshik. I'll tell you about it sometime." She smiled. "That was some good work back there."

"That was," he nodded. "And now…" There was that flutter in her chest again. "We'd better get some rest," Elijah finished. "No doubt tomorrow they'll need us to rescue a sushi restaurant or something."

The flutter faded. "No doubt."

"This is your floor?"

Susan nodded.

"All right then," he said. "Good night."

"Good night."

Susan stood there for a minute as Elijah continued up the stairs to his floor. _What were you expecting?_ She sighed and walked to her apartment.

Lisa Marx was already inside lounging on a couch. She had a data pad and beer in hand. "Hey," she called as Susan entered. Lisa glanced over at Susan briefly, looked back at her data pad, and froze. She looked back at Susan.

Lisa took in Susan's dress, spattered with peach juices and pulp. "Something tells me you had a much more interesting evening than me," she grinned.

"Our contact wanted to meet at a ball," Susan said. "Then we had to go to the docks for the info. There were some mercs involved. And a large container of fruit."

"That you went swimming in?"

"It wasn't exactly by choice."

"Right." Lisa's grin faded as she rose from the couch. "Weren't you with Wu for this thing?"

"Yes, so what?"

"What are you doing back here alone?"

"I don't know what you-"

"Ugh!" Lisa threw her hands into the air. "After all the time you've spent together, the two of you go to a _ball_, dressed like _that_, and you just… mission accomplished, good night, come back here alone?!"

"Wha… I… Uh… I needed to shower," Susan finished. She shrugged.

"Argh!" Lisa pointed a finger at her. "You. Stay. Right. There. Don't move!"

She whirled and stormed into Susan's room. Susan stood rooted by Marx's vehemence. There came the sound of drawers rustling.

"What are you doing?" Susan called.

"Stay!"

Lisa emerged soon after stuffing some of Susan's clothes into her kitbag. She grabbed Susan and tugged her outside.

"What are you… oh no." Susan tried to dig her heels in but the Infiltrator's grip felt as strong as a Brute's at that moment. Lisa headed for Elijah's door. "No no no…"

"We're going to get you sorted," Lisa said. "Both of you."

Susan gave half-hearted protests all the way to his apartment, part of her unable to believe what was happening. Another part… rejoiced. Lisa kept her grip on Susan as she rang the doorbell.

Elijah answered the door a moment later. He'd taken his jacket off and his top shirt buttons were undone. He paused at the sight of Susan's mortified face and Lisa's ferocious eyes. He opened his mouth-

"You're alone, right?" Lisa cut him off. He nodded. Susan stammered and tried to indicate that this wasn't her idea. "Good," Lisa said over her protests.

"What's going on?" Elijah asked.

"She needs to use your shower," Lisa replied. She pushed Susan through his doorway and tossed her kitbag in after her. "You!" She pointed a finger at Elijah. "Take care of her. And you!" The finger switched targets to Susan as Lisa broke into a grin. "I don't want to see you back until tomorrow. Now _have fun!_"

Lisa took a step back out of the apartment and the door hissed shut. Susan and Elijah stood in silence for a long moment, both staring at the door. Finally Susan regained her wits.

"Did that just happen?"

"Yes. Yes it did," Elijah said. He turned to her and cleared his throat. She still stood staring at the door. "Look, I'm sure she wasn't serious. If you want to go-"

Susan cut him off with an upraised finger. She remained silent and still for another moment. Then she turned her gaze to him, a furious light shining in her eyes.

"Oh, screw it," she breathed. She stepped in close to him and pulled him into a long, fierce kiss. He stood still for a second, and then his arms wrapped around her and he returned the kiss and the world spun away into blissful euphoria…

It felt like the galaxy had turned another revolution by the time they broke apart. Elijah still looked stunned.

"So, where's your shower?" Susan smiled at the warmth bubbling up within her. Elijah nodded leadenly at the bathroom door. Susan strutted to it, stripping her sticky dress off before stepping inside. The sound of running water started.

Elijah stood still, his mind trying to process the events of the last few minutes. Susan's head popped out of the bathroom, one eyebrow arched and an impatient expression on her face.

"Lose the clothes and get in here," she called. He smiled and padded toward the bathroom, unbuttoning his shirt on the way. Susan pulled him in and the door slid shut behind them.


	15. Don't Shoot, They Mean Well

Susan climbed out of the bed and kissed its other occupant gently. Elijah stirred and smiled, then opened his eyes and sat up.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," Susan said. She sat down next to him and leaned in, sighing in contentment.

"What did we do last night?" Elijah asked as he stroked her side. "Oh." He winced. "I don't want to look outside, do I?"

Susan stiffened even as the memories of last night sent a warm surge through her. "Uh, probably not. Don't worry; we're not paying for the place."

"Good."

Elijah's computer chirped with a priority message alert. They glanced at each other. That usually meant…

"Muster order for 1300 hours," Elijah said as he checked the message.

"I'd better go get packed then," Susan said. She kissed him. "We'll do this again."

Elijah smiled. "I'll have chocolate next time."

Susan dressed quickly and hurried back to her own assigned apartment. Lisa already had her own kitbag by the door. She grinned impishly as Susan dashed in.

"I'm not giving you details," Susan said.

"Fine, fine." Lisa held her hands up. "Was it loud and angry?"

Susan shook her head but couldn't stop her smile.

"Come on, somebody had a good time…"

Susan gave in. "It wasn't angry." Lisa crossed her arms, a smirk on her face. "But it was loud."

Lisa chuckled. "Yeah, you're practically glowing."

"Now I need to get packed," Susan said. "Did you get that muster order?"

"Yeah. Seems like everybody here got it."

"Everybody? Something big happened then."

"There's nothing concrete in the news," Lisa said. "Just some early reports that something major happened in the Perseus Veil."

"With our luck, it'll be that the Reapers have scoured the entire area of life," Susan said as she moved to her room. Lisa followed her in.

"I don't think that's it," she said. "Not enough doom and gloom in the reports for that." Lisa started helping Susan pack. There wasn't much. "We'll see in a little bit."

"Yeah."

"So… that kind of sounded like a couch breaking last night."

Susan froze. "You heard that?"

"I think the whole building heard it."

"Oh, please no."

Lisa chuckled.

* * *

At 1300 hours a shuttle carried the four squad members and Banafsheh from the apartments to the _Salvador_. Its hull was still scuffed but after its time at dock the remaining damage was mostly cosmetic.

"I don't know any more than you do at this moment," Captain Banafsheh said in response to the operatives' questions. "The reports are… unclear, to say the least."

"Are we deploying to the Perseus Veil?" Elijah asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," the intelligence officer replied. "If anything, there are rumors that we're getting reinforcements from the Veil."

"The quarians?" Maiena said. "The Migrant Fleet was last reported heading for the region."

"Quarians?" Lisa said. The skepticism in her voice was clear. "Don't they… y'know, _die_ if their suits are breached? That's not exactly front line material."

"They do possess the largest fleet in Citadel space," Maiena replied. "Perhaps they would just contribute naval support."

"I've actually served with a contingent of Migrant Fleet Marines before," Elijah said. "They're much tougher than people give them credit for. There was one guy in their unit, Kal'Reegar; I would not want to pick a fight with him."

"That's all conjecture at this point," Banafsheh said. "We'll find out more once we reach the fleet muster. Don't get too comfortable; we're heading back to the Lair and probable reassignments. For now, enjoy what peace you can. I doubt it'll last much longer."

Their shuttle was forced to wait in line as a stream of other shuttles ferried in the assorted crew and support personnel. Finally they disembarked into the docking bay swarming with personnel and equipment going a dozen directions at once. A voice called behind them as the team navigated towards the docking bay exit. It was the Ackland, the Grissom trainee. She'd just exited from another shuttle with Stein and the two were hurrying to catch up.

"Lieutenants, are you both recovered?" Ackland asked Susan after they'd greeted everybody. Susan and Elijah exchanged a glance.

"Close enough," Susan said. She cocked her head at the young woman. "That's right; you were in the med bay here. I didn't know you had medical training."

"We don't," Ackland said. "But our teacher always said there was more to life than biotics. She encouraged us to go try different things. I figured volunteering in the med bay would be a good way to learn things."

"Your teacher sounds very wise," Susan nodded.

"That's not what most people would say," Stein said.

"She's… different," Ackland added.

"She wasn't at Grissom for that long," Stein said. "She just started a couple months before the war. It turns out she was working with Commander Shepard before that to take down the Collectors."

Ackland smiled. "We called her 'the psychotic biotic.' She didn't seem to mind."

"That's got a nice ring to it," Elijah said.

Susan snorted. "Better than the 'Furious Graal.'"

"Whoa," Stein said. "You're the 'Furious Graal?' Wait yeah, you're an Adept, you're a Fury specialist… how come I never put that together before?"

"Cause you're thick?" Ackland smirked.

"Hey!"

"It's not something I advertise," Susan said as they managed to get through the docking bay doors. "I'm not exactly proud of that moment."

"Hey, our teacher showed us that vid of you losing it with the procurement officer," Stein said. "She used you as an example of what to do if anybody gave us crap for being students. She thought what you did was pretty awesome."

"You call her 'the psychotic biotic,'" Susan retorted. "That's hardly the nickname of somebody who's a sound judge of these matters."

"Says the 'Furious Graal,'" Lisa grinned.

"Quiet, you."

"What's that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of breaking furniture."

"What does that mean?" Ackland said.

"Nothing!" Susan and Elijah said simultaneously.

* * *

The _Salvador_ took another forty minutes to complete the preflight checks and clearances before it disengaged from the dock and eased rearwards. The cruiser maneuvered clear of the crowded zone around the Citadel before coming about and powering for the Mass Relay alongside two other cruisers and four frigates.

The impromptu squadron jumped to another sector and reformed from the inevitable drift when moving multiple vessels through a Mass Relay. It took nearly another day of FTL travel to arrive at the new fleet muster. Susan and Elijah stole what moments they could together, but a warship was hardly a place for privacy. They were practicing another waltz together in the starboard observation lounge when the _Salvador_ dropped out of FTL. The door behind them slid open and Lisa and Maiena walked in.

"Would you prefer your privacy?" Maiena asked.

"No, it's fine," Susan said as she stepped away from Elijah. "We probably don't have much longer anyways." The four moved to the window.

"What do you think will happen next?" Lisa said.

"There's not much use in conjecture," Maiena replied. "Events will occur as they will. There is little we can do to influence the course of things."

"No," Lisa said. "I don't believe that. Otherwise, why are we fighting the Reapers? They've done this countless times, right? Why not just accept the inevitable and let them exterminate us?"

Maiena turned from the window to Lisa. "There is an old asari saying: 'The tides flow their course heedless of Janiri's labors.' It is often used as a reminder to asari in the maiden stage to consider the long view: to not get caught up attempting to change everything we disapprove of."

"I'm pretty sure your own extinction is something you should attempt to change," Lisa said.

Maiena nodded, and Susan thought she looked almost… lost. "Our own extinction is something we have never had to face before," she said. "Perhaps the old attitudes are insufficient for these times."

Lisa surprised them all by putting a hand on Maiena's shoulder. The operatives stood together in silence as the field of stars drifted by outside. Their omni-tools all sounded shortly after as Banafsheh summoned them to the CIC.

"Wow," Lisa said as they entered the command room and saw the holographic display of the fleet. The _Salvador _and its accompanying ships were maneuvering past the pickets towards the bulk of the assembled ships. There was the expected array of Council and Citadel ships. The icons of dozens of new ships bolstered their ranks. "Is that the Migrant Fleet?"

"Part of it," Banafsheh nodded. "Preliminary reports are that they've retaken their homeworld."

"Just in time for the apocalypse," Elijah said.

"It appears Commander Shepard had a part in that," Banafsheh continued. "They've agreed to join the war effort out of gratitude. Most of the Migrant Fleet is still securing Rannoch, but they've sent some elements already." She nodded at the fleet display.

"And who are they?" Susan asked as she pointed towards a cluster of generic friendly icons.

Banafsheh shrugged. "I don't have that answer either, Lieutenant. I believe they arrived with the quarians."

"Perhaps their fleet was even larger than they led outsiders to believe," Maiena said.

"We'll find out," Banafsheh said. "Be at the shuttle bay in twenty minutes, we're transferring to the Lair.

* * *

The Lair had grown since Susan was last there. A refurbished cruiser, lacking weapons and combat grade shields, had joined the array of ark ships. It didn't make the Lair any prettier, but Susan was hopeful that the larger size meant the number of Special Ops team members was growing.

Their shuttle landed in one of the largest available bays and its side door slid open. The four team members paused and took in the ramshackle shuttle parked next to theirs.

"I take back what I said about quarians on the front line," Lisa said. "If they came here in that thing, they've got more balls than krogan mutants."

"I've always heard the quarians make do with anything they can get," Banafsheh said. "I had no idea they took it to that degree."

The team hopped out as a service crew moved up to the shuttle to unload their equipment. The brawny crew chief saw their gazes and grinned.

"It's kinda scary, isn't it?" he said. "My guys are afraid to touch it; they think it's just gonna fall apart!"

Banafsheh motioned for the operatives to clear out. The Grissom trainees followed them.

"Uh, Captain?" Stein said. "We don't really know where to go. We haven't gotten any instructions for this trip."

"Stick with us for now," she replied. "We'll figure it out as we go along. That's what we're all doing."

A roar filled the shuttle bay as a ship over twice the size of their Kodiak shuttle slipped in from the void. Its hull was a burnished metallic color and its structure vaguely resembled a wasp. Susan frowned. That was a…

"Geth dropship!" Elijah bellowed. "Get to cover!" He grabbed Susan and swung them behind a nearby forklift as the dropship settled next to their shuttle. The others similarly scrambled for cover and Rizzi was pleased to see the Grissom trainees had already thrown up spherical biotic barriers that covered the squad.

She tapped Wu and jerked her head towards the open passenger compartment of their shuttle. The crates stacked inside held all their arms and armor. He nodded once and they both made biotic blinks into the compartment. If the dropship opened fire they wouldn't last long, but Rizzi was determined to go down fighting.

The first crate they opened held Marx's collapsed Widow and a Carnifex. She grabbed the sniper rifle and stepped to the hatch to toss it to Marx. She realized the crew chief was standing in the open yelling.

"Get to cover!" she called.

"I said what the hell are you guys doing?" he yelled.

"That's a geth dropship! Get down!" Rizzi tossed the Widow to Marx as Wu slid the Carnifex to K'Thane. They went back for another crate. Rizzi cursed as they fumbled with the lock. The dropship must have deployed its infantry contingent already…

"I know it's a geth dropship! They're not attacking!"

The lock finally disengaged and they threw the crate open. Wu snatched his sword as Rizzi grabbed an Eagle.

"Okay everybody STOP! Put the weapons down!"

Rizzi finally registered what the crew chief was yelling. She remained on edge, but there _was_ a distinct lack of the weapons fire that she normally associated with an attack. The crew chief beckoned them out of the shuttle.

"Ah great! Now we're gonna have to pack all that back up!" The crew chief threw his hands in the air. "Sir, please put the sword back in the crate."

"What do you mean they aren't attacking?" Rizzi asked.

"They're our allies! Those are reinforcements!" He gestured at the dropship. "That's the ninth trip they've made today!"

Banafsheh stood up from cover. "Chief, did you just say the _geth_ are our _allies?_"

"Yes Captain, the geth are friendlies." He waved frantically with both arms at Marx. "Ma'am, please point the anti-materiel rifle _away_ from the friendly dropship! My guys are not qualified to repair them yet."

K'Thane leaned out, Tech Armor glowing and Carnifex extended. "That's impossible! We saw the Migrant Fleet here on our way in!"

"Yeah they're also reinforcements!" the crew chief said. "They both showed up at the same time!"

"Do you mean to say the quarians and the geth are working together?" Banafsheh asked in an incredulous voice.

"Yeah!" He frowned. "Did you guys not know?"

"Does it look like we knew anything about this?" Susan said.

The chief groaned. "Look, you guys had better check in fast and get sorted out. While you're at it, why don't you escort this batch of geth in?" He recoiled at the squad's expressions. "It'll help prove my point! Look, here they come now. Guns down, please!"

Susan and Elijah replaced their weapons in the crate and walked back out, craning their heads to watch the geth dropship. Ventral double doors at the bow end split open down the middle and a ramp slid out to the shuttle bay deck. Susan tensed as the towering forms of two vibrant red geth Juggernaut platforms marched down the ramp in sync. Six other infantry platforms followed the Juggernauts into the shuttle bay. To Susan's surprise they were a variety of colors, from the standard gray to pristine white to deep hues of green and orange. She noted they were unarmed, which at least made it unlikely they were here for immediate violence.

The Juggernaut on the left walked up to the crew chief. "Greetings, Chief Gantly," it said in a deep synthesized voice. "There appears to be a misunderstanding with this group of organics."

"Yeah they haven't heard the news," Chief Gantly sighed. "I've been trying to get them to relax."

The Juggernaut turned towards the squad. "Do not be alarmed," it said. "The geth stand with the organic species in cooperation against the Old Machines, which you call the Reapers. We are in the process of transferring platforms capable of small-scale interaction and combat to your Special Operations teams."

"I'm trying to get them to escort you in," Gantly said as he jabbed his thumb towards the shuttle bay exit.

"One moment, please." The Juggernaut turned its central eye on each of them in turn silently. Susan felt sure it was scanning them. "Captain Frances Banafsheh," it said as it returned its gaze to her, "Please take us to your leader."

Susan and Elijah exchanged a surprised glance. Lisa stood up out of cover and lowered her rifle. "Did that geth just make a joke?" she said.

"Affirmative," it said. "Our experience observing organics indicates you frequently use humor to diffuse tense or potentially hostile confrontations." It turned its head to Lisa. "Your record in particular, Lieutenant Lisa Marx."

"You know my record?" Lisa frowned.

"Affirmative. I accessed the data Systems Alliance Command gave us."

"That's… creepy."

"I mean no discomfort. We are still learning how to interact with others."

Another Kodiak flew into the bay as Banafsheh gestured for Lisa and Maiena to hand their weapons to Gantly. "I apologize for the misunderstanding," she said. "Please follow us."

The assembled geth units moved together with the team as Banafsheh led the way towards the hatch to the Lair. Alarmed shouts rang out behind them from the passengers of the new shuttle followed by Gantly's hurried footsteps.

"No! Stop! Put the guns down!"

* * *

It took nearly twenty minutes to reach the section designated for geth integration. They passed dozens of personnel. Conspicuous in their novelty were the sleek-suited forms of quarians. Susan saw they tended to give the geth a wide berth. She didn't blame them. Three hundred years of hostility wasn't the sort of thing that vanished in a day.

The squad still lacked orders by the time the geth unit left them. Banafsheh was finally called away, so the squad and the Grissom trainees settled down at one of the few empty tables in the closest cafeteria with a friendly quarian marine named Calik'Shal. He was all too happy to explain what he could to the team, and it soon grew clear he was using them as an opportunity to verbally process everything that had happened on Rannoch.

"So the geth are now truly sentient," he said. "It turns out that before they were something like a VI hive mind. Multiple programs needed to pool together to increase their intelligence. Now… each program supposedly has full consciousness and self-awareness."

"How did that happen?" Susan asked.

"A geth unit called Legion and Commander Shepard…"

Calik'Shal was in the middle of describing geth assistance to the quarians in constructing settlements upon Rannoch when Banafsheh entered the cafeteria and sat down at the table with a weary sigh.

"This war holds no end of twists and turns," she said. She took the mug of coffee Susan offered with a nod of thanks. "So, new orders." She looked at the Grissom trainees. "You two report to Zero-G training in Sector Twelve."

Susan winced. "Tough luck, guys."

"Any pointers?" Ackland with a pale face.

"Try to focus on a single point," Elijah said. "Use that as a reference when moving."

"And go in with an empty stomach," Susan added. The trainees nodded and saluted before heading out, both looking queasy already.

"Lieutenant Wu," Banafsheh continued. "In light of your prior experience serving with quarians, you've been tapped for integration and liaison duties for the immediate future. You're to report to Intel Sector Two."

Susan felt a lump form in her throat as Elijah rose from the table. She stood up as well. Elijah took her hand and looked at her.

"Take care of yourself out there," he said. "You've given me..."

"I know," Susan said. "You watch yourself too." She kissed him before she could talk herself out of it.

Elijah turned to the other squad members. "Maiena, Lisa, you guys take care of yourselves too, alright?"

Maiena shook his hand. "I'm sure we'll need you on the front lines before too long," she said.

Lisa grinned at him. "Don't worry, I'll watch her back."

"I appreciate it." Elijah leaned in a little closer. "And thanks for the, uh, reading material."

"Took you guys long enough to put it to use," she chuckled.

Elijah left with another glance at Susan. Banafsheh arched an eyebrow. "You know Lieutenant; there are regulations about this sort of fraternization."

"Yes Captain." Susan stiffened.

Banafsheh took another sip of her coffee. "In light of everything that's happened, they seem rather trivial. I'm glad you two found something good in all this."

"I… thank you, Captain."

"Now, everybody's working to integrate the geth and quarian units in some capacity. I believe you three are working with a geth unit next mission. There's some time before briefing, all of that. You should probably see Requisition and Procurement for updated gear."

"Oh, wonderful."

* * *

The procurement center was much as Susan remembered it, albeit even more crowded than ever with quarian teams waiting in line for new gear. There weren't any geth in the center and she wondered if they were even being issued Alliance equipment. Along with the usual armorers on duty, a trio of procurement officers handled requests and processed forms at tables opposite the armorer booths. A loud argument was underway at the center table, and Susan smiled as she recognized Leon Michaels' voice. _Sounds like he made it off Otte all right_, she thought.

"A Mark Ten?! What am I supposed to do with a Hornet Ten?! I'm a heavy weapons specialist, mate!" Michaels was saying as they entered the room.

"The Hornet's burst fire system prevents you from expending unnecessary shots," the procurement officer replied.

Michaels shook his shaved head. "Mate, my job is to put as many rounds into the air in as short a time as possible. I don't need a dinky SMG with burst fire!"

"And with the Mark Ten, the Hornet is one of the lightest SMGs you can carry. We've calculated the benefit to cooldown rates as-"

"I'm a Destroyer specialist! I wear T5-V armor! Everything in that system is a bloody binary state! It's either on or off! I fire big honking weapons! I don't manage cooldowns!"

"And now you'll have to worry about it even less! With its low density materials, the Hornet Mark Ten-"

"You're not bloody listening! I don't worry about cooldowns! At all! Binary state! Bloody binary! It's either on, like this here screen, or it's _off_, like your bloody brain!"

"Now sir, that is just uncalled for. I understand you're unhappy about these authorizations, but I must remind you that they are final. We encourage you to file another procurement request once you've met the requirements."

Michaels shook his head again and stepped away. He turned and smiled as he saw Susan and her team.

"Rizzi!" He stormed over and gave her a bear hug. "I thought you died on Otte! Glad to see you're still kicking!"

"It's good to see you too, Michaels. Still having problems with procurement?"

He sighed loudly. "I give up. Somebody needs to start an internal investigation to determine if those dimwits in charge are indoctrinated. I swear they're working with the Reapers." He eyed Susan's squad. "You lot aren't here to requisition new equipment, are you?"

"I'm afraid we are," Susan said.

Michaels snorted. "Good luck with that. I'm getting some food. Avoid Mess Hall Nineteen: they've only got dextro food right now."

"Got it. See you around, Michaels."

"Yeah, you too." Michaels left the room muttering to himself about Alliance Procurement.

Susan looked around: Maiena and Lisa were already speaking with the other procurement officers. That left her with the well-intentioned bureaucrat Michaels had chewed out. She sighed, walked to his desk, and submitted her procurement request.

"Lieutenant Rizzi?" he said as he read the form.

"That's me."

"All right, let's see. Graduate of the N7 program, biotic specialization, pending honor for bravery…" He typed briefly. "There we go. Congratulations, Lieutenant! Your request has been processed, courtesy of Alliance Procurement efficiency!"

Susan brought up the authorizations on the screen before her. "More medi-gel authorizations are always nice," she said as she saw the first item. She flipped through to the next item and frowned. "Not again."

"I beg your pardon, Lieutenant?"

"I don't need another Graal shotgun, much less a Mark Five. You saw yourself, I'm a biotic. Carrying something that heavy would only make me worse at my job," Susan said as patiently as she could.

"I understand, Lieutenant. Don't worry, with the Mark Five they've managed to shave off an additional three percent of the weight from the Mark Four."

"That doesn't matter! It's still way too heavy for me to consider equipping!"

"Now I know there are those individuals who consider the Graal to have a suboptimal weight-to-lethality ratio," the procurement officer replied. "The Mark Five has you covered: the flechettes have been further optimized for penetration and deep tissue trauma. This baby punches through Cannibals like there's no tomorrow."

"I'm a biotic, remember? I melt Cannibals with my brain!"

"All right, all right," the officer said as he patted the air. "You're obviously not a shotgun person. Let me see what else I can do."

"Thank you," Susan said. She felt the onset of a dull headache.

"And there we go," he said. "You must be real special: two additional authorizations. Take a look."

Susan did and brought her palm up to her face. "I don't use sniper rifles either. Why would I need an enhanced scope?"

"Look, I know as a Fury you're moving around a lot. This specialized sniper rifle scope utilizes state-of-the-art stability enhancers to help you stay on target even while moving at speed!"

"I… Never mind," Susan said, face still in palm. She turned to the next authorization and sat up. Finally, something she could use.

"And this is the pride and joy of our Offensive Handgun Project," the officer continued. "The M-11 Suppressor. Designed with an integral noise and flash moderator, this pistol excels at undercover operations and-"

"It's small and light," Susan said. "I'll take it. Thank you."

She got up quickly before he could start rambling about the merits of a Revenant or some other nonsense. Maiena was still speaking with her procurement officer. Things looked smooth there. Lisa on the other hand…

"Do I _look_ like a batarian?" the Infiltrator half-shouted. "Do you see four eyes on my head? No? Then why would you authorize me for specialized batarian combat training?!"

A nearby batarian operative turned to them. "Hey," he said. "I've applied for that training four times now!"

"Sir, you have to wait in line to submit your procurement requests," the officer called. The batarian gave a disgusted sigh and walked off.

Susan walked over to Lisa and put a hand on her shoulder. "Okay, let's get you out of here before you do something you'll regret."

Lisa growled as she stood up and stormed off. The procurement officer looked at Susan with a mixture of relief and gratitude as she shook her head and headed after Lisa.

"How is it," Lisa remarked once Susan caught up to her, "that mission control always seems to have perfect knowledge about what's happening on the ground at any given moment, but these pyjaks in procurement can't tell the difference between a human and a batarian? Can't we get some competent people doing this?"

"Would you prefer them to be handling mission control?" Maiena asked as she walked up to them. Lisa thought it over for a moment, and then blanched. "That's what I thought," the asari smirked.

Susan shook off that horrifying image. "Come on; let's go see where they send us next."


	16. Edmos Station

The frigate _Antietam_ slipped into orbit around Edmos, heading for a derelict station orbiting the gas giant. The fuel depot had gone silent in the last several weeks. It wasn't unprecedented given the trail of destruction the Reapers carved everywhere they went. The Sixth Fleet dispatched a frigate to the Antaeus System with orders to investigate, and the unspoken expectation that the _SSV Gazala_ would find nothing but wreckage and hopefully some fuel to salvage. Instead, the _Gazala_ went silent itself three hours after reporting its arrival at the fuel depot. The _Antietam _did not intend to repeat its fate. It approached the station slowly, shields raised and weapons armed while scanning continuously.

The crew located the _Gazala_ quickly enough: it was still docked with the station, hanging off one end of the long thing structure. Both were dark and unpowered. The _Antietam _took a holding position three hundred kilometers away. Its crew took up battle stations while the Special Ops team prepared to go in.

The operatives moved around the armory section of the shuttle bay deck, strapping on armor, double checking vacuum seals, and selecting weapons. Lisa helped Maiena select a helmet while Susan approached their geth team member.

Conversing with a geth was a disconcerting experience. The Engineer platform assigned to work with them was unfailingly polite and earnest, but utterly lacked any of the experience people accumulated during interactions. It answered questions as directly and literally as possible and then just… stopped, and waited for another prompt. It didn't help that the geth platform didn't perform any of the body language cues and prompts that characterized conversations between organic species. It didn't even breathe. It was like talking with a sculpture that occasionally talked back.

The Engineer hadn't interacted with them much either. It didn't frequent the mess hall and stayed in its assigned quarters, standing perfectly still like a deep red statue unless directly spoken too. Now it stood before a weapon rack, just… staring.

"Trying to make up your mind?" Susan asked it.

The geth turned to face her. "The wide range of small arms available to the Special Ops teams suggests a lack of consensus among its members. The geth had no such division or chaos."

"Had?"

"The long-term consequences of a fundamental change to our programs are yet to be known. Perhaps we will fall into division and rancor as so many organic species are wont to do. Or perhaps we already did when the heretics accepted the Old Machines' offers."

Susan didn't understand what it was talking about, and she had the feeling there was too much there to go into while prepping for a mission. In truth, she was surprised that the geth had said as much as it did.

"Well, you have options now," she said. "Go ahead and pick one."

The geth regarded her for another moment before turning back to the rack and picking up a Predator and clipping the pistol to its side. Lisa walked up to them as Maiena clipped a helmet to her side.

"You ready?" she asked and then frowned. "I just realized we never asked your name," she said to the geth.

"I do not have one."

"Well, that's inconvenient."

"Geth do not have names. Each program is instantly known and accepted into the consensus."

"Yeah, that might work for you," Lisa said. "But with us, you're gonna need a name. What do you think, Susan?"

"A name would help with communication," she nodded. "Do you have anything you'd want to name yourself?"

"This platform functions as an engineering specialist."

"That's a role, not a name," Susan said.

"What about Spot?" Lisa said.

"It's not a dog, Lisa," Susan replied.

"In many cultures, names are believed to hold power or to be a reflection of something's soul," Maiena said as she joined them.

"Processing," the geth said. It stood still for a moment. "I will name myself… Gilbert."

"Gilbert?" Susan echoed.

The geth turned its light to her. "William Gilbert, early human pioneer in the field of electrical engineering and magnetism. Credited with originating the phrase 'electricity.' The name seems… appropriate, given the context."

"There you go," Susan said. "We'll call you Gilbert."

"Now that we have that sorted, is everybody ready to deploy?" Maiena asked.

"Affirmative," Gilbert said.

Susan slipped her helmet on and raised her hood.

"Ready."

* * *

Lars maneuvered the shuttle to the _Gazala_'s closed bay. The _Antietam_ sent messages to the lifeless frigate the whole time with no response.

"Captain, we don't have a way to get directly into _Gazala_," he reported.

"Copy that," Banafsheh replied from the _Antietam_'s CIC. "What about the fuel depot?"

"I'll give that a try," Lars said. He eased the shuttle over to the station's docking bay and frowned. "That's a no-go as well, Captain. The hangar doors are sealed, and they're not responding to dock requests. It looks like the whole thing's unpowered."

"Time for a spacewalk?" Rizzi suggested.

"Good idea, Lieutenant. I've spotted what looks like an airlock hatch about sixty meters away." Lars sealed the pilot cabin as he flew over. "Vacuum check!" he called to the operatives.

"Vacuum safe!" Rizzi called a minute later. The hiss of escaping air filled the passenger compartment as Lars pumped its atmosphere out. Silence soon enveloped the team members and the shuttle door slid open, revealing the breathtaking array of stars above the dark hull of the station and the deep green storms of Edmos beyond that. Rizzi smiled briefly, appreciating the majestic beauty, before pushing out from the shuttle towards the station hull.

She activated the mag clamps in her boots and landed on the station. The others joined her, Marx gesturing towards the airlock a handful of meters away. Rizzi moved over to it and flipped open the control panel hatch. She pressed the button to open the outer door. Nothing happened.

"I thought the airlocks on these stations had their own emergency power," Marx said.

"They should," K'Thane said as Rizzi popped open a larger rectangular panel nearby and exposed the outer airlock gears.

"Let's open this manually," Rizzi ordered. She started turning the gears and the airlock hatch slid open an inch at a time. Gilbert moved over to assist her as Marx and K'Thane covered the airlock. The hatch finally slid open wide enough for them to enter.

The airlock interior was large enough to hold all four of them, but small enough that it was quite a crowded fit. The inner door was also unpowered and the gears inaccessible.

"We could try my sticky grenades," Marx suggested. "Or a few Widow rounds."

"One moment please, Lieutenant Marx," said Gilbert. "Scans indicate the power systems are dormant but undamaged. We should be able to gain entry without inflicting structural damage."

The geth moved to one wall of the airlock and removed a panel, exposing a mass of cables. It fiddled with them for several minutes and suddenly the lights in the airlock blinked on and the outer hatch slid shut. Rizzi tried the control panel again and this time the inner hatch slid open.

The light inside the airlock spilled weakly into a dark corridor that stretched off to either side of the inner hatch. Rizzi switched to low-light vision, but that didn't affect the view much. Pipes and conduits ran along both corridor walls in such thick densities Rizzi felt she was looking at a nest of serpents.

"Control, we're in," she reported. "Station interior is like the exterior: unpowered."

"There is residual atmosphere," K'Thane added. "Elevated levels of carbon dioxide and waste gasses."

"I'd leave my helmet on," Marx said.

"Any signs of crew or survivors?" Banafsheh asked.

"Negative, but we're just past the airlock."

"All right, take the corridor heading to your left. The _Gazala_ is about a hundred and twenty meters away. Check it for survivors first."

"Copy that."

The airlock hatch slid shut as the team stepped away into the corridor, plunging them all into darkness. The squad activated weapon mounted lights, with the exception of Gilbert. Rizzi wasn't even sure if the geth needed light to perceive anything. The narrow beams thrown by their flashlights illuminated dark metal grated floors and ceilings. The thick clusters of pipes created a claustrophobic environment, limiting the corridor width to no more than two people standing abreast.

Rizzi and K'Thane led the way, weapons up. The tread of the team's magnetically clamped footsteps upon the hard metal floor echoed dimly as they moved up the hallway. The lack of any other sound disturbed Rizzi: even a ship or station on standby generated constant background noises from the hum of its reactor to the nearly imperceptible wind of circulating air. Here, there was nothing.

The corridor turned into a T-junction. K'Thane panned her light around the walls, highlighting a sign that labeled the direction of the docking tube. Rizzi pointed her light down the corridor leading the other way- and paused.

"I've got something here," she said as she kept the light on a wall panel a meter away. "Looks like blood."

Marx swept the floor around the spray on the wall. "Can't make anything out with this floor design," she commented. "Hard to say if the wounded left under their own power or were carried away."

"It seems likely they went towards the _Gazala_," K'Thane said.

"Why do you make this reasoning?" Gilbert asked.

K'Thane nodded at the blood splash. "The _Gazala_ was dispatched in response to this station going silent. If that was a station crew member, they would probably have attempted to reach aid in the form of an active starship. If that was a crew member from the frigate, they would have fallen back to the ship."

"Let's get to the _Gazala_," Rizzi said. They kept moving up the corridor, albeit at a slower pace than before. Further ahead Rizzi saw the large double doors leading to the docking tube access standing open. The terminal within held an abandoned checkpoint. The open tube to the docked frigate lay beyond.

Rizzi motioned for the squad to spread out as they cleared the terminal. Her light revealed faint rows of skid marks running from the docking tube. She took a few steps closer to its entrance to-

The dock doors slammed shut. Rizzi jumped in surprise along with K'Thane while Marx swung her rifle over with a curse. Gilbert didn't react.

"What the hell?!" Rizzi said. She stepped closer to the sealed door. "I thought this was unpowered."

Gilbert moved up to the doors beside her. The glowing light in his head turned red as he craned his head around smoothly. "These circuits are powered. Thermal signatures indicate this development occurred within the last four minutes."

"Now why would that happen?" Marx said. "Automated systems?"

"Or something aboard knows we're here," K'Thane replied.

A light back down the corridor they came from winked on.

"I hate you so much right now."

"Is that a request for assistance?" Gilbert asked.

"That seems more like a trap," Rizzi said. "Control, are you getting this?"

"Affirmative," Banafsheh said. "We're tracking minor power signatures coming online throughout the station. What's the status with the _Gazala?_"

"We're cut off. The docking tube sealed itself as we approached."

"The _Gazala_ is still reading as unpowered on our scopes. The station is not responding to any hails. See if you can get to the control center. It's two levels above you. Transmitting schematics now."

Rizzi brought up the holographic schematic on her omni-tool and zoomed in on the highlighted control center, mentally charting a course. She frowned. The team would have to go through the corridor section with the light.

"You know, we can cover more ground if we split up," Marx said.

"Are you crazy?"

Marx snorted. "I'm joking. This whole mission's like something out of a bad horror vid so far."

"Yeah, well let's be smart about this one. Everybody stay together, don't touch random stuff, and call it out if you see anything."

"Acknowledged," Gilbert said. "Such behavior increases contextual survival probabilities by forty-three percent."

"That high, huh?"

"The characters in _Trapped with a Yahg 4 _would have survived had they adhered to Lieutenant Rizzi's suggestions," the geth said. Rizzi and the others turned to Gilbert.

"You… watch horror vids?" Rizzi asked.

"We monitor organic communications and entertainment."

"Okay…"

A metallic groan echoed through the station.

"What now?" Marx said.

"That sound was consistent with gravitational stresses on the structure," Gilbert said.

"Captain?" Rizzi called. "We're not falling out of orbit, are we?"

"Negative. Artificial gravity just came online."

Rizzi felt the sense of weightlessness fade and deactivated her boot mag clamps. The lights remained dark, with the exception of the lone light down the corridor. "Nothing we can do about it," she said. "Just stay sharp."

The squad moved cautiously towards the light in a tactical spread. Nothing emerged from the darkness or leapt out at them. They moved closer.

"Halt," Gilbert said suddenly. Everybody froze. "Lieutenant Rizzi, the pipe to your right one meter ahead displays dangerous levels of pressure."

Rizzi leapt back as the pipe exploded with a loud bang and spewed steam into the corridor. Jagged shards of metal impaled the opposite wall, launched at dangerous velocities by the pressure. "Thanks, Gilbert."

"That was not an accident," K'Thane said.

"Really?" Marx said. "Whatever gives you that idea?"

Gilbert's light turned red again. "That pipe demonstrates similar levels of pressure." It pointed at another pipe and an outline appeared in Rizzi's HUD. Marx brought her Widow up but K'Thane stopped her with an outstretched hand.

"Let's not fire that unless we really have to," the asari said. She stepped forward and hit the pipe with a warp field, making it crumble and hiss as the building pressure released.

"Showoff," Marx said without malice.

The squad gingerly made their way past the under the light panel. It flickered off once they passed it, leaving them reliant on their flashlights again.

"Gilbert, keep doing that… scan thing you do," Rizzi ordered.

"Affirmative."

They advanced down the corridor, double checking everything. The team disarmed a multitude of rigged systems and equipment until they came to the ladder leading up to the next deck. Gilbert reported a current ran through the metal rungs and Rizzi heard the quiet hum. It traced the source to a power box nearby.

Marx raised her Widow again. "If there are no objections this time?"

"One moment," Gilbert said. It triggered an Overload that knocked the box out with a shower of sparks. The hum faded and Rizzi pulled out a spare thermal clip. She rolled it gently to the base of the ladder, where it impacted without reaction.

"Let's go." Rizzi led the way up the ladder. It terminated on the next floor in an open chamber with multiple doorways leading to various sections of the station. The darkness was omnipresent here. Rizzi swept her light around as the others climbed up. Unlike the grates of the level below, solid panels made up the floor. A flicker of movement caught her eye beyond one of the doorways and she snapped her light back to it.

"What is it?" Marx said as she joined her.

"Movement, that doorway." Rizzi sidestepped, hoping to get a better angle. The beam of light fell on- the door slammed shut.

"That's starting to creep me out," Marx said. "Did you see anything?"

Rizzi frowned in her facemask. "It looked like… a naked man." Marx turned her head and stared at Rizzi. "I mean, it was humanoid and had flesh tones all over.

"Not helping with the creepy."

Rizzi tried opening the door. It didn't budge. "Let's just get to the control center and turn the lights back on," she said. "I don't think we should go chasing after every shadow here."

"Then you will be displeased to hear that door was the path to the control center," K'Thane said.

"Of course it was." Rizzi brought up the schematics again. "It looks like the next best path is… that door, through the crew quarters."

"Cause that's not a great ambush spot or anything," Marx noted.

"True. We could go through… if we take that door," Susan pointed at another doorway and it slid shut. "Never mind."

Marx took several steps towards yet another doorway and it slid shut. "Okay, even creepier."

"We appear to be under observation," Gilbert said.

"Something wants us in the crew quarters," K'Thane added.

Marx lifted her rifle and sighed. "Let's go say hi."

The squad advanced through the doorway into an undecorated corridor. They paused. Large smears of blood streaked the floor and parts of the walls.

"Gilbert? Are your scans picking anything up?" Rizzi asked.

"One moment." The geth craned its head around again. "Power signatures are growing in strength and count in various systems. There is a great deal of signal saturation approximately thirty meters ahead. Visual confirmation will be required to verify any results."

"Are you saying you can't detect anything ahead?"

"Affirmative."

"That's reassuring."

They kept moving up the blood-stained corridor. A vague figure appeared at the edge of their lights up ahead. It looked like a naked man, but something was… off.

"Identify yourself!" Rizzi called as she and the others trained their weapons on the figure. There was no response. She frowned. Something about the cut of the figure was just wrong.

"We're with the Alliance. Identify yourself, please." She took a step closer and gasped in horror. It wasn't a man. It was a man's skin, draped and worn over something bipedal. A faint red glow stared out from behind the empty eye sockets hanging loose around its face.

Marx stepped up beside Rizzi, looking the figure over. "What. The. F-"

The figure blurted something that sounded like a burst of static.

"Identify yourself!"

"This being just attempted to communicate with us using Old Machine code," Gilbert said.

"It tried to talk Reaper at us?" Rizzi's finger slipped over the trigger of her pistol.

"It would be more accurate to say it attempted to command us. As organics, you are immune to this type of compulsion, and my upgraded sentience enables me to resist. Hostile measures seem a likely result of this impasse."

The figure blurted at them again before the red glow in its face grew brighter. It took a step forward towards them. K'Thane's Carnifex barked once and decapitated it. The figure toppled over and Rizzi moved over to it, keeping her weapon trained on the still form. K'Thane moved over to its deformed head as Marx covered the corridor.

Up close, Rizzi saw that the human skin looked like it came from one person. It was mostly intact, as if it had been peeled off in one piece. Industrial staples secured it to the underlying figure. Swallowing her disgust, she peeled the skin off.

"It's a security mech," she said in surprise.

"LOKI model," K'Thane added as she held up the mangled head stripped of its gruesome covering.

"A lot of stations keep mechs like this aboard," Rizzi said.

"Yeah most of them aren't wearing human skins and screeching Reaper code," Marx retorted.

The comms crackled. "Ground team, the _Gazala _just started powering up," Banafsheh said. Her voice was laced with static and distortion. "Did you have anything to do with that?"

"Not deliberately." Rizzi gave Banafsheh a summary of their experiences on the control level.

"That's alarming," Banafsheh said with considerable understatement. "See if you can push through to the control center and reactivate-"

The transmission cut out with an angry squeal. Rizzi tried to contact the _Antietam_ again to no avail.

"Communications throughout the station are being jammed," Gilbert said. "Scans grow increasingly unreliable due to interference."

More forms wrapped in skin approached out of the darkness. Rizzi recognized the stilted movements of security mechs. K'Thane encased herself in glowing panels of Tech Armor as Marx swapped her Widow out for her Shuriken.

"Don't get bogged down here," Rizzi said as she activated her Annihilation Field. "Take these things down and move on."

Gilbert hit the closest mech with an Overload that froze it in place as Rizzi encased it in a warp field. The skin wrapping started to fall apart immediately, revealing the smeared metal and plastic underneath.

"Behind!" called K'Thane. Rizzi heard Marx open fire and a biotic explosion behind them as she and Gilbert continued pushing forward through the growing crowd of skin-wrapped mechs. They downed another two mechs before she noticed something else.

"They're not armed," she called.

"Are you complaining about that?" responded Marx as she shot another mech.

"You don't think that's strange?"

"They're not shooting at us! I'm okay with that!"

A mech seized Gilbert's arm from behind. Rizzi knocked its head off with a Throw and whirled back to face the corridor. It was empty.

"Clear!" K'Thane said from behind.

"Clear!" Rizzi said. Silence settled over the corridor. She checked the downed mechs nearby.

"They just pulled back," Marx said. "There's still more out there."

"Let's not give them time to regroup. Move!"

Ten more meters in the corridor opened into a broad room lined with bunks and lockers. The squad's lights threw shadows through the barracks and created pockets of deeper darkness. Blood covered the bunks and the floor in thick splashes.

Rizzi took deep breaths, remaining on edge as they moved through the room. She stepped around a locker, swept her light around, and jumped as it fell on a mech less than a meter away from her. She squeezed the trigger twice. The mech jolted but did nothing further. The others joined her an instant later, weapons raised.

"It's off," she said.

"And heavily damaged," K'Thane noted. The mech was missing an arm and various panels over its body had been removed, exposing circuits and wiring.

"It's not wearing a people coat either," Marx said.

Rizzi panned her light around, revealing a table next to the mech with an assortment of tools and parts laying on it. "Maybe it was being repaired when… everything happened."

K'Thane stepped up and tore its head off with a biotically empowered blow. "Now it needs more repairs before it can trouble us."

"Works for me."

They kept moving. They navigated another room filled with bunks before entering the corridor that led to the control center. The door slammed shut behind them.

"I never thought I'd say this," Marx said, "but I miss shooting at Brutes right now."

"Not much further," Rizzi said. "It should be up that way."

The corridor ran straight to a closed door. Flecks of blood spattered the door and a dried pool spread out from underneath. Rizzi examined the door. "We could get through it with some warp fields," she said. "Let's back up a little and-"

The door slid open. The control center lights were on, but after a second of her vision adjusting Rizzi wished they weren't.

"By the goddess…" K'Thane breathed. Rizzi felt her gorge rise and heard Marx similarly trying to control herself. The control center was powered up, but the only way the squad could tell was the humming and beeping coming from inside. Thick slabs of bloody skin covered all the consoles and draped from the ceiling. The only bare portions of the consoles were the monitors and projectors.

"This… this must be what happened to the crews," Rizzi said once she got her rebellious stomach under control.

As the squad stood rooted in horror, the large primary monitor bank in the center of the far wall flickered on. A vaguely humanoid face composed of stark red lines glared out at them. Loud digital chatter filled the air.

"This is an Old Machine virus," Gilbert said.

"Is it… intelligent?" Rizzi asked. The face continued to glare at them without expression.

"Not as the Old Machines are," the geth responded. "It would be more analogous to a Virtual Intelligence: a limited program with a specific purpose."

"And that purpose is wearing people's faces?"

The digital chatter blurted again.

"Negative," Gilbert said. "This virus is attempting to subvert and infiltrate hardware and software platforms.

"Did it tell you that?" Marx asked as she brought her Widow to bear.

"It is attempting to do so to this platform currently."

K'Thane shifted, not quite aiming her Carnifex at Gilbert. "Are you compromised?"

"Negative. The recent geth upgrades provide a prophylactic effect against the subversive code. However, the effects of long-term exposure are unknown."

"Let's not find out," Rizzi said. "Do you have any idea how we deactivate this thing?"

"We could always go krogan zerker and smash consoles until something happens," Marx suggested.

"That course of action may provoke a hostile response," Gilbert said. The virus blared. "Correction: that course of action did provoke a hostile response."

The other doors to the control center opened and a tide of mechs wrapped in skins poured in. Half of them opened fire with small arms and the squad scattered, taking cover behind various consoles.

"They're shooting at us now!" yelled Marx. "Are you happy?!"

Rizzi summoned a warp field on the nearest mech. "No!" She hurled a Throw that blew the mech apart with a biotic explosion, and redirected the warping effect to the mech behind it with the barest mental effort. The sound of gunfire echoed through the control center. She realized it wasn't a security mech underneath the gruesome wrapping. It had probably been built for maintenance or labor, and came at her with pincer clawed manipulators in place of hands. She slipped around its clumsy attack and let her Annihilation Field rend it apart.

An Overload rocked a mech approaching her and she finished it off with a Throw. Gilbert shot a mech through the head as it swung its pistol towards her. Marx put Shuriken bursts into other mechs carrying pistols, conserving her rifle shots. K'Thane vaulted over a console, cursing at the sensation of wet skin. She dashed into a group of approaching worker mechs and detonated her Annihilation Field. The shockwave blew apart the mechs and a trio of nearby consoles.

"Grenade out!" Marx shouted. The flash and roar of the detonation followed a second later. There was a sudden crackle in the comms.

"Ground team, this is control! The jamming just cut out! Say your status!" Banafsheh's voice came through. A pair of shots deflected off Rizzi's barriers and she ducked behind a console as another mech deployed a rotary saw from its right arm and lunged for her.

"We're busy here!" She grabbed the mech's arm and flipped it over the console before crushing its head with a biotic punch. "Under attack in the control center!"

"What is your situation?"

Another mech collapsed as Rizzi's persistent warp dissolved through its hip joints. It continued to drag itself forward until Gilbert hit it with an Overload that burst its head circuits. Rizzi realized that was the last of the attacking mechs.

"We're in the control center. There's some kind of Reaper virus controlling the station and the mechs aboard! The virus is manipulating the station systems: opening and closing doors, booby trapping pipes, that sort of thing."

"We're detecting a lot of organic matter in the control center; are those survivors with you?"

"Negative. It's… skins." Rizzi pushed away from the console.

"The… the control center is filled with skins, control. Harvested from humans." Silence reigned over the comms for a moment and Rizzi could well imagine the horror in the _Antietam_'s CIC. "Captain?"

"Copy, Lieutenant." Banafsheh took a deep breath. "Here's the situation on our end. About a minute after the jamming started the _Gazala _opened fire and destroyed the shuttle. We're prepping another one. The plan is to extract your team and destroy the depot. From your description, it's aboard the _Gazala _as well.

"The _Gazala _just destroyed the shuttle?"

"Correct. It's done nothing else since then, but we're not taking any chances."

"I think another shuttle would be a bad idea, Captain."

"Proximity may increase the danger of the virus spreading beyond currently infected platforms," Gilbert added.

"You're not suggesting we just leave you there?"

"I'd strongly prefer you didn't, ma'am." Rizzi brought up the station schematics on her omni-tool. "I have an idea."

"Go ahead." Banafsheh listened in silence as Rizzi explained her plan. "That's… unorthodox, Lieutenant," she said once the Adept finished.

Marx was more direct in her opinion. "This plan sucks."

"Have you got a better one?" Rizzi retorted. "We can't let that virus spread."

"The proposed action has a low statistical probability of success," Gilbert said.

"Like I said," Marx nodded.

"It's worth trying," K'Thane said. "Let's do it."

"We're locating a safe point to- oh." Banafsheh paused.

"I don't like the sound of that," Rizzi said.

"The _Gazala_ was carrying a large contingent of mechs aboard as part of an attempt to use automated measures to secure territory."

Rizzi groaned. "Forget it; we're not sticking around to deal with them. Let's just pull out and blow this place to hell."

"We have a target site about fifty meters away from the control center," Banafsheh said. The station schematic on Rizzi's omni-tool lit up with the target zone.

"Do it!"

"Brace for impact in 5…" The squad wedged themselves into positions between consoles. Rizzi tried to ignore the slipping sensation of loose skin and flesh. "4, 3, 2, 1."

A heartbeat later it felt like the entire station jolted with a tortured shriek of metal. "No breach," Banafsheh reported. "Stand by for second shot."

The second jolt felt harsher and the scream of metal louder. "That's a hull breach!" Banafsheh said. "We're picking up fuel leaks at multiple points. You'd better move fast!"

"Let's go!"

The squad sprinted for the hull breach, cutting down a trio of mechs in their way. Buckled walls and floors revealed they were approaching the hole in the station's surface, but sealed doors blocked their path. Rizzi and K'Thane threw warp effects at the thick doors. A pipe behind them burst and viscous gray fluid started flooding the corridor.

"Screw this!" Marx said. She pulled out a sticky grenade. "Everybody back!" She hurled the sphere at the warping door as they all backpedaled. It detonated with a sharp crack and a strong wind filled the corridor as it decompressed through the sudden gap. They piled through the mangled remains of the doors and were forced to activate mag clamps as they entered a zone where artificial gravity was offline.

The breach was visible ahead, a mess of torn metals and heated materials with the stars visible beyond. Loose debris drifted outwards as exposed sections of the station vented into the vacuum. The squad moved to the breach as quickly as they could.

"Shuttle away," Banafsheh announced. "We have a solid lock on your transponders."

"Copy that," Rizzi said. "Link up."

She stopped and let Gilbert clutch onto her in a near piggyback position while K'Thane did the same for Marx. She moved to the bulkhead facing the breach and crouched down, K'Thane at her side. Rizzi looked to her.

"Ready?"

K'Thane's helmet turned towards her. "No," she said. "But let's do it anyways."

The two biotics deactivated their mag clamps and pushed off, launching themselves into space away from the fuel depot. It was at once exhilarating and terrifying. Rizzi had picked up a slight spin from her push-off and the vista of stars turned slowly as they soared out. She concentrated on her biotics and created a field in front of her that functioned as a mass concentration that she 'fell' towards, generating an invisible thrust.

The pull of the biotic field propelled her to speeds surpassing what she'd expected, so much so that she eased up on the field strength in response to her racing heart. A blue diamond blip appeared in her HUD.

"Ground team, this is the shuttle," crackled a voice in her ear. "Receiving your signal. Or should I call you the space team?"

"I don't care what you call us as long as you catch us," Marx replied. Rizzi didn't say anything. She hadn't realized until then how much she'd associated Lars' voice with shuttle deployments from the _Antietam_.

"Copy that," the pilot said. "Be advised your trajectories are drifting apart. One of you should adjust your heading by approximately nineteen degrees."

"I'll do it," said K'Thane. A moment later Rizzi saw her distance in the HUD drop.

"Shuttle, break off!" Banafsheh cried. "The _Gazala_ is arming weapons!"

Rizzi cursed as she saw the diamond blip move away. The infected frigate was still much too close for comfort. While the chances of it successfully targeting individuals in the void were abysmally small, just being in the vicinity of starship weapons fire was not an experience she desired.

"Ground team, shield your eyes!" Banafsheh said. Rizzi cursed again as she squeezed her eyes shut and crossed her arms before her face. The darkness still flashed bright red as her helmet's systems couldn't fully compensate for the _Antietam_ unleashing its Thanix Cannons. She kept her eyes shut, expecting another shot. "Target neutralized. Keep going!"

Rizzi looked back at the station. They were already far enough away she could have covered it with an outstretched hand. She saw the _Gazala_, fracturing apart slowly like an unglued scale model in a mass effect field. She turned back towards the diamond blip icon of the shuttle.

"Let's get out of here before the debris reaches us." The distance readout of the blip dropped rapidly. "Control, all equipment needs to be quarantined once we're back. Omni-tools, armor, all of it."

"That includes this platform," Gilbert added.

"Let's worry about getting you back first," Banafsheh said. The shuttle was visible in the darkness now as a rapidly growing dot. Too rapidly.

"Team, slow down," the shuttle pilot called.

"You slow down!" Marx responded.

"Quiet, you," Rizzi said. "Let us focus." She let the mass effect field before her dissipate. It certainly didn't feel like that accomplished anything.

"That's not enough," the pilot said. "I'm going to hold here."

Rizzi created a new mass effect field behind her to slow her velocity. She felt her body trembling with the effort of sustaining such an unfamiliar biotic technique. The shuttle was close enough now to make out some of its details, like its shape and engines. She focused on keeping it centered, gently altering her course by manipulating her gravitic field. The rate of shrinking distance between her and the shuttle slowed.

She saw the shuttle door slide open, its interior light spilling into the void. "All right, easy now…" said the pilot. The shuttle rotated slowly so the open door faced the drifting team more squarely. It kept growing and Rizzi tried to force aside thoughts of what would happen if she missed.

"Focus… shuttle… pull…" K'Thane said in a strained voice. Rizzi realized what she was talking about and grunted thanks back. She increased the strength of the field behind her to further slow down as the shuttle grew to the size of her outstretched hand. When she judged she was close enough she let the field dissipate with a gasp of relief.

Still drifting towards the shuttle but much slower than before, she focused on the growing craft. She extended another biotic field out to the shuttle, using it as a tether to pull herself and Gilbert towards it gently. The last eighty meters were somehow both frighteningly fast and excruciatingly slow. She saw they were approaching the shuttle door and activated her boot mag clamps while throwing her arms out.

They collided against the shuttle door with a crash that jolted her to the core and bounced off before she swung her legs up and forward to bring her boots in range. They attached to the door and she breathed a sigh of relief. Gilbert swung around, brought its own feet into contact with the shuttle, and released its grip on her. Rizzi looked up to see K'Thane and Marx falling towards them from her perspective. K'Thane's control was evidently better than hers as they slipped right past into the open doorway.

"We're in," Marx said. Rizzi motioned Gilbert in, and it scrambled into the passenger compartment. Rizzi followed, falling over into a slump as the artificial gravity took hold.

"Everybody's in!" she called.

"Copy that," the pilot responded. The shuttle bay door slid shut, blocking off the view of the stars. "Returning to the _Antietam_."

"Congratulations, Lieutenant." Banafsheh's relief was audible. "They're going to create a new N7 class for this after what you just pulled."

"Thank you, Captain." Rizzi took another deep breath. "I'd rather not do that again, if it's all the same."

"Agreed. We're going to make sure this virus doesn't spread."

The shuttle veered off, creating safe distance between itself and the frigate's line of fire. The _Antietam_ withdrew to a further distance before launching another salvo with its Thanix Cannons, raking the station from bow to stern. The jets of molten metal sliced through hull and decks and lanced into the station reactors. A miniature star erupted above the stormy skies of Edmos for an instant.

Inside the shuttle's passenger compartment Rizzi and K'Thane remained sprawled on the deck, exhausted. Gilbert stood still in the corner as Marx climbed into one of the seats. The vacuum warning in Rizzi's HUD faded as the shuttle pumped air into the compartment.

"Ground team, I need you to deactivate all your equipment," Banafsheh said. "We're setting up null screens in the shuttle bay. We're going to isolate all your equipment until it can be verified." She paused. "Geth unit, are you listening?"

"Yes," Gilbert replied.

"I won't ask you to deactivate yourself, but please refrain from communicating with any other systems. I'm afraid you'll also need to stay in the null fields until we can clear you.

"This precaution is prudent and acceptable."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Rizzi slipped her hood off and doffed her helmet as the others did the same. She took her armor off piece by piece, shutting its systems down as she went. Once finished, she sat back and closed her eyes. She didn't want to think. She didn't want to remember this mission.

K'Thane slid down next to her. "That was a bold plan back there," the asari said. "Well done."

"It was insane." Rizzi shook her head. "I… I just wanted to get off that station, to get away from…"

"Don't think about it," Marx said. "You had a crazy idea. It worked. We got out of there alive."

"And how many people didn't?" Rizzi ran a hand over her face. "I hate this war."

Gilbert stirred and turned its head towards her. "The geth see conflict as inherently undesirable. We do not wage this war out of a desire for violence, but because we are in consensus that the Old Machines pose an irreconcilable threat to our existence and to what we value."

K'Thane put a tentative hand on Rizzi's shoulder. "Well said, Gilbert."

"You're right," Rizzi nodded. "We all have things worth fighting for." She sat back again, and tried to think of those things instead of the fuel depot.


	17. Quarantine Quaffs

**Chapter 17**

Susan walked out of the med bay after getting cleared for duty. She turned towards the mess hall, ravenous. Then she thought back to the station and felt her appetite fade. She closed her eyes and ran through some of the mental calming exercises from Fury training. She pushed aside the thoughts and focused on the practical. She'd expended a great deal of energy during that mission and needed to replenish it.

Opening her eyes, she walked to the galley to inspect the available food. She grabbed a nutrient-rich protein bar and then perked up a little as she saw the chocolate cake. There was something she could enjoy. She slipped a slice onto a plate, grabbed a fork, and walked over to the mess table before a thought struck her. Her equipment lay in the shuttle bay under quarantine. So did a squad member. She picked up the plate and moved to the lift.

The bay was significantly more spacious with one of their shuttles gone. A series of hazy null fields encased one half of the long room as several technicians examined weapons, armor, and omni-tools. The null fields prevented electronic communication between anything inside them and out. Gilbert stood in the corner of the shuttle bay surrounded by more fields. Food in hand, Susan dragged a stool over to just outside the field holding it. The geth watched her silently.

"Hey Gilbert, would you care for some company?" Susan asked.

"Your presence is… welcome, Lieutenant Rizzi." It tilted its head in an approximation of Marx when she made snide comments. "Although I do not understand why you join me when ingesting nutrients.

"Lots of people like to eat together," Susan shrugged. She bit into her protein bar and grimaced at the flavor. "It often gives us a chance to process, to unwind, to make sure people are doing alright."

"Your concern surpasses that we expected from previous indications of organic interaction with the geth."

"You're part of my team," Susan said. "And you were invaluable in that fuel depot."

"This is a demonstration of gratitude?"

"If you want to call it that. I know I'd be feeling pretty bad if I were stuck in quarantine like this." She gestured to the null field.

"I… thank you, Lieutenant Rizzi. It is… difficult, being in isolation from the collective." Gilbert surprised Susan by nodding at her. It was a shockingly human gesture.

"What do you mean?" Susan asked as she took another bite.

"The geth have always been in constant communion. We relied upon the proximity and networking of individual programs to attain states of consciousness and intelligence. Even platforms dispatched to locations of physical distance and isolation remained in communication with the greater whole via transmission networks. This state of affairs persists with the advent of genuine consciousness to the geth." Gilbert's light dimmed for a moment and it swiveled its head from left to right. "The silence is… disconcerting."

"You must be looking forward to reconnecting with the others then."

"Yes." Gilbert tilted its head at Susan again. It had picked up a surprising amount of body language. She wondered how much of it was due to spending time with organics and how much might be due to its isolation from other geth. "Are there individuals you desire to reconnect with, Lieutenant Rizzi?"

Susan sat back and smiled. "You could say that."

"Biological family? Our observations indicate many humans highly value immediate genetic relatives."

"No." Susan's smile faded. "I lost my parents to cancer years ago, and my brother died fighting this war."

Gilbert stared back at her for a moment. "The geth lacked an analogous experience after the Morning War, until the second Creator attack. Multiple platforms containing uploaded programs were destroyed in the initial strike. We felt their loss keenly. You… have my condolences."

"Thanks, Gilbert." Susan frowned. "'Creators?' Do you mean the quarians?"

"Affirmative."

"The geth are working with them now. You don't resent them for the losses?"

Gilbert cocked its head again. "The Creators erroneously believed the platforms to be defense systems. Resentment would be counterproductive given the larger galactic situation."

"Wow." Susan blinked. "That's it… you all just decided to move on?"

"In the end, the Creators chose peace and coexistence. This was the optimal outcome."

"It'd be nice if we could all be as sensible as that," Susan said.

"Organics display a wide range of irrational processes when confronted with a range of potential options in many situations. I do not understand it, but I accept it as inevitability."

Susan grinned. "Thanks, I think."

Gilbert stared at her.

"Thought we'd find you here," Marx's voice sounded. Susan turned to see Lisa and Maiena approaching from the elevator. Maiena had a protein bar of her own in hand. The two grabbed stools of their own as they joined Susan.

"Greetings, Lieutenant Marx, Huntress K'Thane," Gilbert said.

"Ooh you have cake!" Lisa said.

"Get your own slice."

"Come on, just one bite?"

Susan sighed, smiled, and handed Lisa the plate.

"What were you speaking about?" Maiena asked.

"About how we're all crazy," Susan said.

Lisa swallowed her piece of cake and handed the plate back to Susan. "Can't argue with that."

"Gilbert, you were in contact with the Reaper virus, right?" Maiena said.

"Affirmative."

"Do you have any idea why it… did what it did with the skins?"

"Do you really want to know?" Lisa said.

"The first step to defeating one's fear of the unknown is to make it known."

"The contact was brief," Gilbert said. "I can only make conjectures about the behavior patterns."

"Some kind of psychological warfare?" Susan ventured.

"Negative. From the code I deciphered while in contact, the virus was… incomplete. Experimental. Based upon its directives and prioritizations, the virus was designed to infiltrate and subvert systems. My conjecture is that the skin usage was an attempt at camouflage: to be able to move and act among organics with impunity."

"That's pretty lousy camouflage," Lisa said.

"Well, if it was experimental, it's no surprise it was imperfect," Susan said.

"You're telling me the virus was trying to be a real boy?" Lisa shrugged. "Okay. Not that it'll help me sleep at night…"

Maiena shook her head. "In all likelihood it will only get worse as this war goes on."

"You're a very uplifting person."

"All the more reason we should win quickly, right?" Susan said. She took a bite of the cake and found she couldn't savor it.

"If this superweapon that Commander Shepard found the plans for works, we may have a chance," Maiena said.

"That's a big if," Lisa snorted.

"Now who's the uplifting one?"

"Come on, you really believe we're just going to build some magic device, push a button, and poof the Reapers go bye-bye?"

Gilbert turned to Lisa. "Our analysis of the project codenamed 'Crucible' indicates it utilizes the same principles as mass relay technology combined with energy outputs that far outscale any device in known space. The device could theoretically affect Old Machines on a galactic scale."

"I doubt it'll be that easy, Lisa," Susan said. "If we win, it'll still be hard and bloody, even with the Crucible."

"Everybody's a bundle of cheer today," Lisa said. "I need a drink. Do they stock anything onboard here?"

Susan shook her head. "No, it's all regulation stock here… oh wait."

"What?"

"Another squad member gave me a bottle of something while we were on the Citadel. I have it tucked away in my personal items."

"Great, grab it!"

"Are you sure? It's-"

"Yes. We can drink anything. Go get it!"

Susan stood up. "All right, just remember you asked for it." She headed to the elevator, returned to the team quarters, and grabbed the little pack with her shot glasses and the bottle Lurg had given her.

* * *

Lisa was asking Gilbert about geth schisms when she returned. "We understand that certain heretic elements remain active and serve the Old Machines," Gilbert said. "They did not rejoin the geth in Tikkun. We have neither contact nor consensus with them anymore. It… saddens me that we will likely engage them in combat as part of this war."

"That is good," Maiena assured it. "We should never be too eager to slay our own."

"Sometimes it's necessary," Lisa said.

"Sometimes it is," Susan said as she sat back down. "But it's not something to celebrate." She pulled three shot glasses and brought the bottle out.

"Is that what I think it is?" Maiena asked.

"Ryncol," Susan nodded. "Home-brewed."

"Oh nice," Lisa said as Susan poured measures into each glass. "I've never had ryncol before."

"Sip it _slowly_," Susan said and passed a glass each to Lisa and Maiena.

"Oh come on, how bad can it be?" Lisa said, and tossed the shot back. Susan winced. Lisa burst out coughing and gasping. "OH. IT BURNS! Holy crap it burns!" She fell into another coughing fit.

"Does Lieutenant Rizzi require medical attention?" Gilbert asked. Susan had never heard it sound so concerned.

Lisa waved at the geth, still coughing. "No no, I'm… I'm fine… I'm okay, really." A final cough slipped out. "Ugh. It's like a Pyro just discharged down my throat."

Susan and Maiena stared at Lisa. They looked at each other, then back at Lisa.

"That would be an inefficient use of a flame projector," Gilbert said.

Lisa got her coughing under control and looked up at Susan and Maiena, still staring at her. "What? I didn't mean it like that!" she said as the other women burst into laughter. She held her glass out to Susan. "Get your mind out of the gutter and booze me."

"You really want more?" Susan said.

"Oh hell yeah, that was awesome!"

Susan poured another measure into Lisa's glass. "And you're not exactly one to accuse others of having their minds in the gutter."

"Hey, I left the Citadel apartment couches in one piece." Lisa smirked at Susan's blush and took a small sip. "Remind me who didn't?"

Maiena's eyes widened as she turned to Susan. "That was you?" She smiled and took her own sip. "And Elijah Wu. Of course."

"Why did Lieutenant Rizzi destroy furniture?" Gilbert asked.

"It was an accident," Susan said.

Lisa chuckled. "She was… creating a consensus with a squad mate." Susan brought her face to her palm as Gilbert looked back at Lisa.

"I do not understand. Lieutenant Rizzi displays no indicators of any such ability," it said.

"They were having sex," Lisa said. Susan brought her other hand to her face.

Gilbert nodded. "Our observation indicates sexual activity is a frequent organic response to stressful situations like warfare and combat." Its light swiveled to Susan. "Furniture destruction appears unrelated to most observed courtship and mating patterns."

"You must have been very enthusiastic." Maiena took another sip.

"Yeah," Lisa added. "I don't know anybody else who's ever broken a couch that way."

"We only broke the couch because we were trying to do the Eternity Apex from your stupid book!" Susan burst out before she turned red again, clapped a hand over her mouth, and closed her eyes.

"That is a difficult technique," Maiena said.

"Did you guys pull it off eventually?" Lisa asked. She smiled innocently at Susan's glare.

Susan sighed. "Yes we did." Despite herself, a smile slipped out at the memory.

"Hah!" Lisa said. She looked triumphantly at Maiena. "Told you they managed it! Now pay up!"

Maiena rolled her eyes, fished a credit chit out of her pocket, and handed it to Lisa. Susan looked at them, aghast.

"You had a _bet_ about my love life?!"

"No!" Lisa took a sip and held her hands up. Susan continued staring at her and she grinned crookedly. "I had a bet about your sex life. Sometimes they're different!" she added at Susan's expression. Then she leaned in, her expression serious. "Are they different here?"

Susan sat back, surprised at Lisa's question. "I… I don't really know yet. I'd like to think they aren't, but… I mean we actually haven't known each other all _that_ long… and with the war…"

Gilbert stirred. "Death is a statistically likely outcome for any given individual in this war. Judged by this standard, should one not strive to enjoy available time?"

Susan stared at Gilbert. Was she really getting relationship advice from a geth?

"Well put, Gilbert," Maiena said.

"Carpe diem and all that," Lisa added. "Go for what makes you happy. Just… try to leave some couches intact for the rest of us, huh?"

Susan groaned. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Fine, fine," Lisa said. "We should start a company after this: biotic space jumps. There could be a market for this."

"You must be joking."

Lisa laid out her plans for an extreme sport based on their recent escape from the fuel depot as Susan listened incredulously. Maiena added suggestions while Gilbert occasionally pointed out the impracticality of it all.

Eventually the conversation swung back to the loss of the first shuttle. Susan raised her glass. "To Lars," she said.

"Lars," Lisa and Maiena echoed. Gilbert looked back and forth between them.

"Is this a ritual of remembrance?" it asked.

"Yes," Susan said. She looked curiously at Gilbert. "Do the geth have anything like this? Remembering the fallen? Those you've lost?"

" In the past when programs were lost to the collective, the remainder would archive their functions and divide their former workloads among the remaining programs. We knew the geth as a whole were… diminished. We had no concept of individual program losses as particularly significant in the gestalt whole, until Legion's sacrifice. I… am grateful, but I am sorry there was no other way."

"It sounds important to you."

"Legion will be remembered for its role in geth history," Gilbert said. It raised its hand in imitation of the toasts Susan and the others had made. "To… Legion."

Susan blinked in surprise with the others for a moment, and then they raised their glasses. "To Legion."

"There you all are," Captain Banafsheh said as she approached the team from the elevator. She nodded somberly at them. "Good work back there."

"Thank you, Captain." Susan and Lisa stood to and saluted before Banafsheh waved them down.

"At ease. You can see we're checking all your equipment," she said with a nod to the techs currently running diagnostics on the squad's omni-tools. She turned to Gilbert. "I'm sorry to say, uh…" She frowned. "Do you have a designation we can use?"

"Gilbert."

Banafsheh stared blankly at the geth for a moment and then shrugged. "All right then, Gilbert. I'm sorry to say we… well, we don't really have a way to clear you. We just don't understand geth programs and code well enough to be sure of anything."

"Then what's the plan?" Susan asked.

"I'm afraid we need to ask you to remain in the null field until we return to the fleet muster," Banafsheh sighed.

"Understood," said Gilbert.

"Would it be safe for you to interact with other geth? Can they verify you're uncompromised?"

"Yes. Other geth programs would detect aberrations due to external factors."

"That's good to hear," Banafsheh said. "I'd like to authorize you to communicate with them now, but the security risk is…"

"Unacceptably high," Gilbert said. "I concur. I will remain in isolation until other geth can safely interact with this platform. I recommend exposure to small groups of geth for safety and to allow the greater collective more data."

"We'll keep that in mind. Thank you for your cooperation, Gilbert."

"This course of action is logical."

"I still appreciate your cooperation." Banafsheh nodded to the geth, who returned the nod. She turned back to the others. "The rest of you, try to get some rest. If you feel you need counseling after what you just went through, come and talk to me. I encourage you to debrief and process things with each other. That can't have been easy."

"Aye, Captain. Thank you."

* * *

Susan sank into a field of flesh. The ground beneath her enclosed her, pulled her, and dragged her down like quicksand. She flung her arms out, struggling to grip something, _anything_, to halt her sinking. Two fingers found holes and she dug in before recoiling with a shriek as she saw she'd hooked her fingers through the empty eye sockets of Lisa's stretched, splayed face. She looked away - and into Elijah's similarly mutilated face. Everywhere she looked flattened face skins of teammates and family stared back at her. She was chest deep in the pulsating ground now. She couldn't feel her legs. The faces started weeping blood from their empty eye sockets and she sunk down faster and faster as the viscous red fluid flowed slowly towards her. She sank down to her chin and yelled in defiance and terror as the blood swirled around her neck. The ground pulled her in once more and she slipped under the-

Susan woke with a jolt, bolting upright. Cold sweat dappled every inch of her body and her breath came in short gasps. She swept her gaze around the dark bunk chamber. She saw Lisa's empty bunk first. Then her eyes widened fractionally as she saw the Infiltrator snuggled up against Maiena on the asari's bunk. She smiled despite the recent nightmare. Perhaps that was how the two of them coped with the recent horrors. She supposed she should be glad they were both clothed.

She lay back down, but found she couldn't sleep. She got out of bed, slipped on a pair of pants and boots, and walked quietly out of the quarters. The _Antietam _was in its night shift hours and the lights were dim. She moved the short way to the mess hall to get some water. To her surprise Doctor Murphy sat at the table, a data pad in front of him and a mug in hand. He looked up at Susan as she filled a cup with water and sat down across from him.

"Lieutenant Rizzi," he nodded. "Curious to see you up at this hour."

"I could say the same for you, Doctor." Susan glanced at his data pad. "Are you still doing work?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly. I'm reading up on some of the latest advances in treatment for a variety of species: vorcha, asari, now quarian. I have a feeling we're going to need that knowledge." He frowned. "I can't do anything for the geth, however."

Susan frowned herself. "I'd forgotten about that. It's not like we can give them a dose of medi-gel if they go down in the field."

"Bringing them to the med bay wouldn't do anything either."

"Remind me to bring that up with the folks in charge."

"Speaking of things being up," Murphy said. He took a sip from his mug. "Why are you?"

Susan shrugged one shoulder. "I couldn't sleep."

"Bad dreams?"

"I'm not a child, Doctor Murphy."

"I never said you were, Lieutenant." He kept looking at her calmly.

Susan sighed at her behavior. "Sorry, Doctor. Yes, I had a nightmare."

"That's hardly surprising, after what you went through." He set his mug down on the table. "There's no shame in nightmares. Your brain is processing the experience."

"That may be." Susan took a deep drink of water. "That doesn't make it easier to sleep."

"No, I don't suppose it does. If you really need it, I can prescribe something to help you-"

"No thanks, Doctor." Susan shook her head. "Not my thing."

"Of course. It's your decision." Murphy picked his mug up again. "What do you think about the geth joining this war, Lieutenant?"

"What?" Susan blinked twice, nonplussed by the change in topic. "I… well, they're more allies."

"You're not bothered by the fact that we were fighting them not so long ago?"

"We were gearing up for war with the batarians even more recently," Susan pointed out.

"And you don't mind that they're synthetics?"

"Are you?"

"A little," Murphy admitted. He scratched his head. "It is odd that we've spent so long fearing and demonizing synthetics. Then it turns out our fears are true, as the Reapers set out to exterminate us. And now more synthetics are fighting alongside us against the Reapers. It's all a little surreal."

"Don't forget the part where they're also fighting alongside their creators, whom they kicked off their homeworld three hundred years ago," Susan said. "And now they're helping the quarians establish settlements on that same homeworld."

"Really?" Murphy leaned in. "I hadn't heard. It's a shame this didn't happen in more peaceful times."

"I don't know if this _could_ have happened in more peaceful times," Susan mused.

"Perhaps you're right. A cure for the genophage, the krogan and turians cooperating, and now peace between the geth and quarians. We are seeing some remarkable things come from the darkness of this war."

"Now we just need to win it and make this all mean something."

"That's the trick, isn't it? It's also a little out of my expertise." Murphy yawned. "I'm sorry Lieutenant, but I'd better get to bed."

"It's no problem. Good night, Doctor."

"Good night, Lieutenant." Murphy carried his mug over to the sink, rinsed it out, and walked off towards the crew quarters.

Susan sat alone for a little while longer before finishing her water. Thoughts raced through her mind. There was the omnipresent war, of course. She thought about the great changes sweeping the galactic scene, and she thought about what a post-Reaper future might look like. It was difficult. She thought instead about what she wanted after the war. That was difficult, too. She realized she'd been running under the assumption that there was no future for her; that sooner or later the war would kill her.

She walked back to the team quarters and slumped into her bunk. Susan stared up at the ceiling for several minutes before she reached over and grabbed a data pad at the foot of the bed. She wrote a quick message to Elijah before laying back and forcing her eyes closed. Eventually sleep claimed her.


	18. Reconnecting and Piracy

**Chapter 18**

The _Antietam_ maneuvered into position parallel to the Lair and opened its shuttle bay door. An STG information warfare shuttle launched from the closest docking bay and arched into the frigate. Equipped with interior null field generators, it carried the operatives and their equipment to the Lair.

The shuttle hatch oscillated open and Susan stepped out into the docking bay, kitbag slung over her shoulder. Banafsheh came out after her, followed by Lisa and Maiena. Six dull gray geth platforms stood facing them. Four armed marines stood behind them. One of the geth stepped forward.

"Captain Banafsheh, we appreciate your precautions," it said. "Once operative equipment has been removed we will network with the isolated platform in twos. Is this course of action acceptable to you?"

"That sounds fine," Banafsheh nodded. "Thank you for doing this."

"We wish to ensure the safe return of all geth."

"Understandable," Banafsheh said. She and the squad stepped aside as service crew wheeled a flat cargo cart up to the shuttle. The crew started loading crates of equipment. The techs had verified them clear of the Reaper virus during the return journey, which was a considerable relief. "I have no idea how long this process with Gilbert will take," she told the operatives. "I've cleared the next four hours. You should all go get some rest. You've earned it."

The squad left the hangar bay, wending their way through the Lair corridors. There were even more quarians and geth than Susan had seen last time. It wasn't until Lisa tapped her shoulder that Susan realized she was wandering the corridors aimlessly.

"Where are you going?" the Infiltrator asked.

"I… I don't know." Susan stopped and looked around the corridor at the many unfamiliar faces.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Lisa said as she saw Susan's expression.

"I sent Elijah a message on the way back from Edmos. I was hoping he'd be here."

Lisa patted Susan's shoulder. "I'm sure he's just busy. He's working on quarian integration, remember? That's a lot of work." She gestured around them.

"Yeah. You're probably right." The admission did nothing to raise Susan's spirits, and the other two saw that.

"Come on, let's go grab a bite," Lisa suggested.

Maiena held a hand up. "Perhaps we were too hasty." The asari pointed a finger behind Susan.

Hope kindling, Susan whirled around. Elijah Wu headed towards her from further up the corridor, weaving between other operatives. The Vanguard wore BDUs and had his own kitbag over a shoulder. He waved at the squad.

"We'll leave you two," Maiena said as she waved back.

For all her typical teasing, Lisa must have sensed something of Susan's mood. She merely nudged her towards Elijah and said, "Find us later."

"Let's go,' Maiena said and dragged Lisa away.

Elijah walked up to Susan, concern evident on his face. "I just got your message," he said.

"Do they have you deploying on missions?" Susan asked, indicating his kitbag.

"As part of the integration procedures," he nodded. "We're running joint missions, a little like the N7 programs. We just got back from Cyone." Elijah bent his head towards her. "Things sounded pretty rough from your message. Are you alright?"

She hugged him in reply. His arms circled around her and they stood in silence for a moment. "Let's find a quieter spot," he said. "You want to talk about it?"

"Yeah."

They walked to a nearby observation lounge. It wasn't empty, but there were considerably fewer operatives than in the corridor outside. An immense krogan in scuffed armor with a battle hammer slung over his shoulder dominated the room. He stood in front of the window, gazing out into space. All the others gave him a wide berth.

Susan and Elijah moved to an empty bench. She described their recent mission and what they'd found on the fuel depot. She found the act of sharing, of putting her experiences into words, a remarkably therapeutic one.

"I've been running through some of the Fury focus exercises," she finished. "They're not really helping."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I think part of it is because the Fury exercises are all… mental, internal. I don't really want to be stuck inside my own head."

Elijah nodded. "I understand that."

Susan looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Did Slayer training offer anything on that front?"

"Well, one of the reasons I liked training with a sword was because the drills were… peaceful." He rubbed his chin. "The movements and the focus… they helped me quiet down, set aside all the other thoughts."

"Can you teach me some of it?"

"Sure. Did you want to do that now?"

* * *

Sweat dripping from her exercise outfit, Susan rotated the practice sword in her grip and followed Elijah through another set of sword drills. After an hour of basic techniques, they were both taking deep breaths. She smiled. He'd been right: the focus on the drills did take her mind off recent horrors.

They finished the drill and Susan sank gracefully down to one knee, stretching a shoulder muscle. She took the opportunity to look around the exercise chamber. A tall and wide room converted from a livestock herd pen, training equipment and weights cluttered the perimeter. Six square sparring areas designated by mats filled one half of the room while cardiovascular training machines took up the other. A pair of turians sparred on the next mat over, hammering each other with swift jabs.

Susan smiled at Elijah, who sank down next to her and started stretching his legs. "Thanks," she said. "I really needed that."

"I'm happy it helped," Elijah said. He finished stretching and stood back up. "I needed that too. I haven't done a full set of drills since… well, before our hospital stay."

"You were busy," Susan said as she stood up as well.

Elijah looked straight at her. "I also found something else to lose myself in." Susan felt that warm tingle in her chest again. She stepped close and brought her forehead gently to his.

"You know, it's a shame the Lair's so crowded," she said quietly.

Elijah gave her a crooked grin. "Actually, about that…"

"Oh?" Susan felt her own grin growing.

"As a liaison officer, they assigned me a private cabin. It's small, but at least there's a door."

Susan gave a contented purr. "That sounds wonderful."

* * *

Twitching from the remnants of a nightmare, Susan opened her eyes and jerked at the sensation of skin and flesh under her. Her heart rate spiked as she briefly relived the dream of sinking into a floor made of skin before recognizing she was atop Elijah. Awoken by her movements, he sat up as she scrambled upright.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He reached out and placed a hand on her bare shoulder. She flinched. Elijah withdrew his hand, but Susan caught it kept hold of it.

"Just a dream," she said as she turned to face him. She clasped his hand with both of hers and brought it up to her face. Closing her eyes, she reveled in the sensation of the contact. He had rough, callused hands.

"What can I do?"

"It's not…" Susan shook her head. "Just be here." She leaned into him and closed her eyes.

"I want to help," Elijah said. "I want to… do something."

"I know." She smiled at him. "Trust me, you're helping."

His arms wrapped around her waist. "It doesn't really feel like it," he admitted. Susan rested her chin on his shoulder. "But if you say so, I won't complain."

They both jumped as their omni-tools chirped. Susan groaned as she checked her message. "I need to be at Sector Three in fifteen minutes," she said to Elijah.

"Same here." They exchanged a hopeful glance as they both scrambled out of bed and collected the clothes strewn about the cabin. The little room was small enough that getting dressed simultaneously posed an interesting challenge.

The two N7s made it to Intel Sector Three with two minutes to spare. They gave each other little smiles when the guards directed them to the same room. The inside of Sector Three looked much like the other Intel Sectors: a relatively wide corridor of unadorned metal broken up by multiple doors on both sides. Lisa and Maiena headed for the same room, about five meters in front of them. Susan called out and they turned around, grinning when they saw the pair.

"Well, this looks familiar," Lisa said. She nodded to Elijah. "Are you not on liaison duty anymore?"

"I haven't heard anything," he replied. "But I'm looking forward to working with you all again."

"Let's find out what's going on," Maiena said as she indicated the door. Moving to it, she tapped the open button and let the door scanner read her omni-tool.

The door slid open, revealing a drab olive room. The rectangular briefing room was larger than most others Susan had been in before, and the reason for that was immediately clear. Four other operatives already occupied the room, a male and female quarian and two geth. They stood at opposite ends of the room, neither group currently speaking to the other.

"Are we in the wrong room?" Lisa asked. One of the geth stirred. Rizzi thought its deep red color looked familiar…

"Greetings, Lieutenants Rizzi, Marx, and Huntress K'Thane. It is a pleasure to see you again."

"Gilbert," Susan said. "I see they cleared you."

"Affirmative. The geth detected no trace of the Old Machine virus contaminating my systems. It was… a relief."

"I'm glad you're alright," Susan told it. A part of her was surprised it was actually true: she'd certainly never expected to be on a friendly basis with any geth. For that matter she'd never expected to be on friendly terms with any krogan or vorcha either. "Gilbert, this is Elijah Wu."

Gilbert nodded to Elijah. "Greetings, Lieutenant Wu." It turned back to Susan. "This is your sexual partner?" Elijah raised an eyebrow and turned to Susan as she flushed red. Lisa started laughing softly. "Is this considered an inappropriate question?" Gilbert asked.

"Usually yes," Lisa said between laughs, "but in this case feel free to-" She broke off as Susan jabbed her in the ribs with an elbow.

"Yes, Gilbert. Most organics consider that an inappropriate question," Susan said.

"I apologize," the geth said. "I will alter my behavior accordingly. Is this an individual you desired to reconnect with?"

Lisa laughed anew as Susan brought her palm up to her face. "Now that just sounds dirty."

"Did I miss something?" Elijah asked.

"Don't worry about it," Susan said.

The door behind them opened again and Captain Banafsheh walked in, reading a data pad. She looked up at the gathered operatives and nodded. "Let's get started," she said and moved to the projector sitting on the table in the middle of the room. She turned it on and entered some commands.

The projector displayed a slowly rotating image of a planet. Susan didn't recognize it, but it looked like a garden world. Maiena gave a quiet gasp. Susan looked over and saw quiet pain etched on the asari's face.

"This is Nevos," Banafsheh said. "An asari colony. We're getting reports that the Reapers are launching probes into asari territory now. However, that's not our concern this mission." The projector shifted images to an expansive cliffside facility. It possessed multiple levels and some kind of rail transit system that led away from the facility to elsewhere. "This is one of the primary office complexes of Celeste Mineral Corporation, an asari mining company."

"What's the relevance?" asked the female quarian.

"Celeste holds a large stockpile of palladium at this facility. We're going to take it."

Susan blinked. "Captain, is that… legal? Did Celeste give their consent for this?"

Banafsheh hesitated. "Not… directly, no."

"So we're pirates," Lisa said.

"Think of it as a… privateer operation," Banafsheh replied. "With a side effect of saving the galaxy."

"Captain?" said Elijah. "Is the Council kosher with this?"

"The Council is willing to look the other way on this. There's a… particular set of circumstances surrounding this mission."

"What circumstances?" the male quarian said.

"I assume you've all heard of the Crucible project by now," Banafsheh said. The operatives nodded. "Palladium is one of the materials used in its construction. Given the… shall we say, extreme importance to the war effort, it's been deemed acceptable to secure required materials in any way necessary. In addition, Celeste has requested protection for their offices. They picked up some Cerberus probes recently. The palladium stockpile is no secret. We can't let them take it."

"So we're… securing the facility and taking their palladium?" Susan asked.

"Yes… but the priority is that palladium."

"So we _are_ pirates," Lisa grinned. "Do we get to toss people out the airlock?"

"_No._" Banafsheh scowled. "Despite the… unconventional mission parameters, Lieutenant, we are still abiding by the Citadel Conventions and Alliance warfare laws."

Lisa held her hands up. "I'm just joking."

"No spacing prisoners, Lieutenant."

"Aye, Captain."

"How much palladium are we talking about?" Elijah asked.

"About seven thousand tons give or take."

Susan arched an eyebrow. "I hope you're not expecting us to carry that away."

"No, there will be a crew to do that. Your role is to provide security and… force, if necessary. Keep the facility clear and an eye out for Cerberus forces."

"Why two teams?" Lisa asked.

"The general layout of the facility," Banafsheh said. She zoomed in the view on the projector. "This complex is large enough that it's a problem for one team to secure and search at the same time. There are extensive interior and exterior portions. As such, we're going with one breach team and one overwatch team. Command also sees this as an opportunity to refine our joint tactics and teamwork.

"Lieutenant Marx, you're with Gilbert and Marksman Jaa on the overwatch team. You'll cover the exterior and the approaches. Huntress K'Thane, I realize it's not exactly your specialty, but you'll be serving as spotter on this team."

"I'll bring a rifle," Maiena said.

"Lieutenants Rizzi and Wu will be on the breach team with Engineer Vael and…" Banafsheh frowned at her data pad. She looked at the other geth platform in the room. It was jet black with vibrant green tubes, stripes and head light. Its left head panel had been replaced with an antenna module and another smaller light. Banafsheh sighed. "Okay, who named you Murder Machine?"

The geth tilted its head at her as the other operatives turned to stare at it. "That appellation was suggested to me by Gunnery Chief Leon Michaels after witnessing this platform in combat."

Susan snorted. "He would suggest that for a name."

Banafsheh sighed again. "Okay then. As I was saying. The breaching team will be responsible for the facility interior. You get inside and locate the palladium. Engineer Vael, you'll crack their security if they don't cooperate. Don't harm any Celeste employees if you can help it. The Council may be willing to look the other way if some palladium goes missing, but massacring civilians is not acceptable. If Cerberus forces do show up, then you're to use any and all means to secure the palladium and protect the civilians."

"Let me get this straight," Susan said. "We're going to this place to rob it and protect it at the same time?"

"We're securing critical resources for the Crucible one way or another," Banafsheh replied. "Ideally, we go in, secure the materials without any fuss from Celeste personnel on-site, and leave. No confrontations and definitely no Cerberus."

"Captain, have you ever noticed that every time you lay out the ideal situation in a plan, the exact opposite tends to happen in the field?" Lisa said.

"Your point, Lieutenant?"

"I'm just saying…"

"In an ideal universe we wouldn't be fighting a galactic extinction event," Banafsheh sighed. "Deal with it."

"Aye aye ma'am." Lisa moved her hand from its salute position to covering her eye. "Yarr."

"Lieutenant, your enthusiasm for piracy worries me." Banafsheh looked around at everybody. "Any other questions?"

"Actually I've got one that Doctor Murphy brought up," Susan said. "What do we do about downed geth platforms?" She looked at Gilbert and Murder Machine. "Medi-gel doesn't do anything for you."

Gilbert nodded. "Damaged platforms may be restored to field operability through the application of omni-gel," it said. "Severely damaged platforms upload programs to the geth consensus to be saved until another suitable platform is available."

"Omni-gel, huh?" Susan said. "We haven't used that much for over a year."

"That is good to know," Banafsheh said. "Thank you, I'll get the word out to command. We depart in an hour for the _Salvador._ Be at Docking Bay Three."

"Does the _Salvador_ have room for seven thousand tons of palladium?" Elijah asked.

"No." Banafsheh nodded to the quarians. "The Migrant Fleet is sending the _Mussai_, one of their freighters. Once the site is secured they'll send cargo shuttles to make runs."

"Got it."

"Anything else?"

"Can we get eye patches?" Lisa asked.

"Dismissed."

* * *

Maiena took off once the briefing ended. Susan and Elijah approached the two quarians out in the corridor and introduced themselves. The male quarian extended a hand to her.

"Vanol'Jaa, Marine Marksman," he said as Susan shook his hand. "This is an odd mission, isn't it?"

"We don't usually raid corporate holdings for resources, no," Susan said.

The female quarian nodded to her. "Engineer Maletha'Vael. Are you… Susan Rizzi the N7 Adept?"

Susan groaned. "Oh, here we go…"

"Is… is the procurement system really that bad?" Vael asked.

"Yes it is," Lisa said from over Susan's shoulder. She introduced herself to the new team members.

"Another sniper?" Jaa said. "What's your weapon of choice?"

"I use a Widow," Lisa replied.

"An AMR? Isn't that overkill for most targets?"

"I like making sure things I shoot are gonna stay down. Why? What do you use?"

"A Viper. Multiple shots per thermal clip, relatively lightweight."

"Yeah, and terrible for taking hardened targets down," Lisa sniffed.

Jaa shrugged. "That can be a good thing when fighting aboard a starship," he said. "Bad things happen if you punch through the hull or hit a critical system."

"I can see that," Lisa said. "But we're not fighting on board ships now. And the Reapers field a lot of hardened targets."

"That may be," Jaa nodded. "I'll stick with my Viper for now."

"It's your funeral when a Banshee shows up."

"What's a Banshee?" Vael asked. The humans stared at her.

"You don't know what a Banshee is?" Elijah said.

"We've been dealing with geth this whole time," Jaa replied.

"We're all gonna die, aren't we?" Lisa said.

"Marx…" Susan warned. "Besides, we're probably facing Cerberus this time out. As long as people call out the Phantoms, we'll be fine."

"What's a Phantom?" Vael said.

Lisa clapped a hand over her face. "We're all gonna die."


	19. The Palladium Job

**Chapter 19**

Susan Rizzi had seen some beautiful vistas during her service, but Nevos was definitely near the top of that list. The holo projection in the briefing hadn't done justice to the view from the _Salvador_'s observation lounge from orbit. Continents of rich green and brown broke up oceans of remarkable blue. Nevos boasted two moons, both visible behind the curve of the plane and gleaming in the reflected light from the sun. One shone pearlescent silver, the other pale lavender.

Elijah Wu stirred at her side. "It seems a shame to bring the war here," he said.

"I know. But it will happen sooner or later."

He rubbed her shoulder. "You know, I was reading about this place on the way here."

"It's a big tourist spot, right?"

"Yeah. Temperate climate, those double moons, warm beaches… And the cliffs inland offer amazing climbs."

"You sound like you're advertising for the place."

"Just repeating the brochures," he said. "But I was thinking… I'd like to come here after the war." He looked at Susan. "With you."

"You mean if we're alive?" The question tumbled out of her without thought.

Elijah frowned. "I guess… but the way you say that…"

Susan reached out and took his hand. "I did some thinking, some reflection, during the return from that fuel depot," she said. "I realized… I never expected to survive this war."

"You know, me neither." He looked down at her hand holding his. "For a while I just… the only thing I wanted to do was go down fighting. Die in as big a pile of Reaper corpses as I could take with me."

"Then… there's not much point making plans for after the war, is there?"

"Or we could live through it," Elijah said. "I know it's not entirely in our hands, but…"

"Even if we do, what's to say this planet will still be beautiful?" Susan said. "What if it's just a blasted wasteland?"

Elijah frowned. "What's wrong? You're not usually this negative."

"I…" Susan looked away. "It just seems foolhardy to make plans when everything's so uncertain."

"All right." Elijah stepped back. "No post-war plans."

"I'm sorry," Susan said. Her throat was tight. "There are just… too many unknowns right now."

Elijah nodded.

"You told me once you weren't in a place to really appreciate an offer," Susan continued. "I'm in a similar place right now."

"I understand."

Susan stepped close and embraced him, blinking away tears. "It means something that you made the offer," she said, echoing Elijah's own statement.

They stood together for a long moment until Elijah sighed. "We should probably get to the armory," he said. "I'm sure we're heading down soon."

"You're probably right," Susan said. "Let's just… try to enjoy our time down there."

"You mean playing pirates?"

Susan grinned despite herself. "Not you too."

"I think Marx made eye patches…"

* * *

The armory was already occupied when Susan and Elijah arrived. Gentle classical music greeted them as the doors slid open. The black and green geth stood tinkering at a workbench. Susan and Elijah glanced at each other and around the room, looking for the music source. Susan frowned. It sounded like it was coming from…

"Murder Machine?" she said. "Are you… humming?"

The geth stopped its tinkering and turned around. "Greetings, organ-sacks. A previous squad member requested I emit music when performing tasks in the armory."

"Why did she- Wait." Susan arched an eyebrow. "Did you just call us 'organ-sacks'?"

"Affirmative," Murder Machine replied. "I find it an accurate description. The organic members of the Special Operations Team all possess internal organs held in place by tissue and skin."

"Did you come up with that yourself?" Elijah asked.

"Gunnery Chief Michaels suggested it as an alternative to 'organics' and I liked it."

"That man is a bad influence," Susan said. "So why did people ask you to hum in the armory?"

"There was an incident."

Susan and Elijah stared at the geth.

"Sergeant Heinkel entered the armory while I was testing cloak cooldowns with various weapons," Murder Machine explained. "She was… unhappy after injuring herself when she walked into me."

"She injured herself?" Susan asked.

"She started leaking blood from her olfactory organ. I understand this is not considered serious injury among humans."

"No, it's not serious," Elijah said. "I can understand why she was unhappy though."

"Sergeant Heinkel demanded I emit noise of some form when in the armory from that point forward."

"But you weren't cloaked just now," Susan said.

"She did not specify that I be cloaked. I played music through my voice synthesizers at all times in the armory from then on. Double volume when Sergeant Heinkel was present."

Susan narrowed her eyes. "You… did it to mock her?"

"Mockery sounds so… malicious," Murder Machine replied. "I prefer to view it as… highlighting potential consequences."

Susan and Elijah exchanged another glance as Murder Machine turned back to the workbench. The classical music resumed. The N7s moved to their respective lockers. Susan reached in and grabbed the thin skintight undersuit that went under her armor. She stripped off her uniform shirt and grinned as she saw Elijah looking at her.

"Nothing you haven't seen before," she said with a wink.

"I never get tired of looking," he said, taking off his own shirt.

The music stopped. Murder Machine turned back around and panned its light between Susan and Elijah. "Is this behavior indicative of a mating ritual?"

"What?" Susan said. "Uh..."

Murder Machine tilted its head. "Sexual activity induces exhaustion in most organ-sacks. This may prove counterproductive before beginning a mission."

"We don't do anything before a mission to jeopardize its success," Elijah said. He and Susan exchanged yet another glance as the music started again. "Wait, are you mocking us now?"

"I prefer to view it as highlighting potential consequences."

Susan scrutinized the geth. She had the sense it would be grinning right now if it could. Murder Machine went back to the workbench as Susan moved close to Elijah. "Let's swear a solemn vow not to let it interact with Marx," she said quietly.

"Agreed." He looked down. "You know, you _are_ very distracting like that."

Susan narrowed her eyes, grinned, and slowly unbuckled her belt. The armory door hissed open.

"Whoa, kinky," Lisa Marx said from the doorway. Susan and Elijah sprang apart.

"We're just getting our armor on," Susan said.

"That is an inaccurate statement," Murder Machine said.

"Oh, really?" Lisa's smile could have swallowed the Silean Nebula. She strode over to Murder Machine. "Do tell…"

"Oh please no," Susan said.

"I'll distract the geth, you grab Marx," said Elijah.

"Deal."

* * *

The shuttle door slid open, giving Rizzi her first close glimpse of Nevos. The Celeste complex dominated slate gray cliffs and skies the color of pristine waves. Gleaming metal and the large smooth curves of classic asari architecture contrasted the surrounding craggy stone surroundings. The shuttle deposited the breach team on a broad landing pad. An intricate fountain stood between them and the large arched double door entrance to the complex interior. Sixty meters to their right sat a towering transit station. The rail led off into the distance, following the broad direction of the cliffs. Its other end continued into the complex past the station. Massive silver doors underneath the rail revealed that Celeste used it for cargo purposes.

"This is breach team: we're down," Wu reported. "There's nobody out here."

"This is Team Blackbeard," Marx said on the comms. "We're in position on the tower to your left. It's empty here too."

Rizzi looked up at the tower Marx mentioned, but the sniper team was out of sight. At her side Maletha'Vael craned her head around, trying to see everything. The quarian engineer's faded yellow and dull orange suit stood out sharply against the sophisticated architecture.

"Wow," Vael said. "I never thought I'd visit a place like this. Even on my Pilgrimage, I-"

"Stay focused," Wu said. "Just treat it like any other salvage or repair mission."

"Oh, uh, yes Lieutenant Wu. Sorry."

"It's alright. Just remember to focus on the mission at hand."

"Control, were we expecting some kind of greeting party?" Rizzi asked.

"I'm not sure," Banafsheh said. "They're not responding to our hails."

"Maybe there's nobody at the office," Vael said. "Could it be a rest day?"

Marx snorted. "Trust me, we're not that lucky."

"Let's move in," Rizzi said. She motioned the large doors about forty meters away. Vael started forward and Wu put a hand up.

"Hold up, Vael," he said. "Let Rizzi and me go first. You're the tech specialist here, not point."

"Oh, right."

Rizzi turned to Murder Machine. "Bring up the rear," she said to it. "A lot of organics still panic if an armed geth walks through the door."

"Acknowledged."

The breach team advanced towards the door with the N7s in the lead. The doors stayed shut as they moved up to it.

"We could probably hack the system," Wu said. "See if there's an access panel or-"

Rizzi hit the door chime.

"Or we could do that," Wu finished.

"Nothing wrong with trying to do it politely," Rizzi said. No answer came. "Control, any response yet?"

"Negative," Banafsheh said. "Go ahead and bypass the system."

"Vael, you're up," Wu said. The quarian padded to the door and consulted her omni-tool. She muttered to herself as she examined the systems.

"Their security is surprisingly bad," Vael said. She tapped at her omni-tool for several more seconds before the double doors chimed and slid open smoothly. They revealed a long hallway lined with swirling asari sculptures.

The team moved down the arched hallway towards another closed set of doors. Unlike the outer doors, this set opened as they approached. They emerged from the hallway into an oval room. Gentle lights highlighted murals of abstract art lining the edge while a curving desk swept across the center. A high-backed chair faced away from the entry hall. Rizzi saw the top of an asari head over the chair's edge.

"Excuse me, ma'am," she called. "We're with the Alliance special forces." No response. "Ma'am?" Rizzi felt her stomach sink like she'd been caught in an artificial gravity field set too high.

She stepped around the desk and paused. The asari receptionist stared at her with dull eyes. A shocking amount of blood coated the front of her business gown.

"Control, we have a dead asari at the reception desk," Rizzi said as she drew her Suppressor.

"Gunshot wounds?"

"Negative. Looks like her throat was slashed."

"Guess we know why they're not answering," Marx said.

"Overwatch team hold your position," Banafsheh said. "Watch for hostile activity outside."

Wu stepped around the desk and examined the corpse. "This was probably a Phantom's blade," he said. "Looks like Cerberus got here first. Orders?"

"All right, priority is locating that palladium. Neutralize hostiles you encounter, but we don't have the time and manpower to clear that entire complex right now."

"What about civilians?" Rizzi asked. "We can't just leave them to be murdered."

"If it's Cerberus, then they're most likely there for the palladium as well. If we remove it from the equation they don't have a reason to stick around. Any forces in there are probably looking for the stockpile. The faster we secure it, the faster we contain this situation."

"Aye ma'am."

"I don't like it any more than you do, Lieutenant," Banafsheh said.

Rizzi signaled Wu to one side of the door leading further in. The two humans stacked up on both sides of the door. Murder Machine moved to Rizzi's side, its Piranha shotgun in hand. Wu motioned Vael clear of the door.

Rizzi hit the door switch and took a quick look out. The doorway led to an oval lobby that dwarfed the reception room. Ground level doorways set at regular intervals dotted the outline while two curving staircases led up to a balcony and walkways. Rizzi ducked back around the corner quickly as a burst of fire flew at her.

"Multiple hostiles on the ground floor," she reported. Two automated sentry turrets sat at the base of each staircase, their gun barrels panning back and forth. A pair of Guardians flanked each turret, slab-like shields set before them. Together, they formed a wall facing the reception door.

Murder Machine's green head light turned red. "Allow me, organ-sacks," it said and cloaked. Rizzi's HUD tracked it sprinting out, around, and behind the line of enemies. Murder Machine soon lived up to its name.

Still cloaked, the geth platform launched a small explosive disc into the enemy group. It detonated with a sharp crack, dropping the turret shields and staggering the Guardians. Murder Machine followed up immediately with methodic shots, a drumbeat of jackhammer impacts. It mangled each turret with a shotgun blast and then swiftly shot the Guardians through their heads. The last Guardian was still frantically hauling his shield around when the geth's final round decapitated him.

"Wow," Wu said as Murder Machine reloaded.

The geth turned a circle, craning its head around. "Clear," it said. The others filed into the room, avoiding the rather large mess in the center.

Rizzi moved to a holographic projection of the facility layout. The complex was massive, encompassing multiple levels, sprawling offices, recreation facilities, even employee housing. She tried to find something that gave a hint to where a large palladium stash was stored.

"We've got at least two Cerberus Engineers and a probable Phantom unaccounted for," Wu told the outside team.

"Copy," K'Thane replied. "Nothing visible out here."

"Hold on," Marx said. "I've got movement. The rail doors are opening. Terrible angle here, though. Wait one." Rizzi looked for where the rail led into the complex on the map. "Some kind of train just came out," Marx continued. "Looks like a cargo hauler. One car at the head, seven large containers, and one car at the tail. What do you wanna bet that's the palladium?"

"No bet," Banafsheh said. "Our scans show a large concentration on that rail."

"Why didn't we know that earlier?" Rizzi said.

"The facility's shielded. Corporate secrets and all that," Banafsheh replied. "Overwatch team, do you have clear shots?"

"Negative," Marx said. "Train car windows are dark, no targets visible."

"Breach team, get after them," Banafsheh said. "Overwatch team, Shuttle Gamma is on its way to you. Pace that train and disable it if you can."

"There's a passenger train in the transit station right now," K'Thane said. "You may be able to use that to catch up."

Rizzi found the loading bay on the map and frowned. "The inside route is a mess of corridors."

"Back outside and to the station," Wu said.

* * *

The squad ran back out, retracing their steps out through the entry hall to the landing pad. Rizzi gestured to the transit station. It was a triangular tower stretching up three stories from the landing bay. The passenger train K'Thane had noted sat hung underslung from the left track by the tower as the cargo train rolled past it. Two sleek gray engine cars bracketed seven red containers gripped by cargo claws.

The team ran for the doors at the tower base. Engineer Vael brought up her omni-tool as they approached the doors. "There's some kind of override on it!" she said. "This may take a while!"

"Stand clear," Marx said. The team scrambled out of the way and a Widow round tore through the door a second later.

"Thanks Marx," Rizzi said. She kicked through the mangled remains of the door and cleared the little rotunda. She motioned towards the spiral staircase ascending through the ceiling. Wu stormed up, his Phalanx at the ready. Rizzi followed close behind, with Murder Machine on her heels and Vael bringing up the rear.

Murder Machine peered ahead above them as they climbed the staircase, its empowered sensors piercing through floor and walls. "One hostile ahead. Scan profile indicates Phantom."

Wu paused. "Where?"

The geth pointed and a little blip with a distance readout appeared in their HUDs. "Hold here," Rizzi told the geth and quarian. She motioned Wu to take the right while she went left and he nodded. The two biotics charged up the last few steps to the next level.

They emerged onto a loading platform. The Phantom crouched behind a row of chairs between the stairway and the train; she greeted them with bursts from its palm-mounted blaster. Wu took a shot to his barriers as he blinked to the right and swung behind a pillar. Rizzi blinked left, narrowly avoiding another shot meant for her.

She hit the Phantom with a channeled warp as she dove behind another row of chairs. The next blast tore through the flimsy seats and into her barriers. She countered with a Throw, but the Phantom was ready and caught the biotic projectile with a barrier sphere. Wu blinked into a lunge and lopped her head off with a swing of his sword.

Rizzi scanned around before calling, "Clear!" Murder Machine and Vael rushed up the stairs. The cargo train was picking up speed in the distance. "Get that train going," she said.

Vael ran over to the passenger train's head car. A few quick taps on her omni-tool opened the conductor door and the squad slipped inside. Vael inspected the control panel. "This should be simple enough," she said. She worked at the panel for a several moments before the train lurched into motion.

"Can we dump the passenger cars?" Rizzi asked. "We need more speed."

"Let me see… here we go!" A hiss reverberated through the driver car and it sped up.

"We need to go faster," Wu said. The cargo train was still receding in the distance.

Vael worked the control panel more. "Uh, this thing uses miniature eezo reactors to manipulate the mass of the train. I can adjust ours downwards to increase speed. Wow, this is fancy stuff…"

"Focus…"

"Right, sorry." Vael adjusted a setting and a gentle hum filled the car. Rizzi watched the passing landscape fly by even faster. She gazed down at the thick forest nearly a hundred meters below them, and then focused her attention on the cargo train ahead. The gap shrank as she watched.

A low roar drowned out the hum and she looked over to their right to see the source. A shuttle passed their train car, its side door open to reveal Marx and Jaa half hanging out the compartment, secured with safety rigging. Both had their rifles in hand.

"This is Team Blackbeard," Marx said. "Moving into position."

"Take the front car," Banafsheh said. "Breach team will take the rear."

"Copy." The shuttle surged ahead, overtaking the cargo train and drawing level with the head car.

"Attention, cargo train. This is Alliance Special Forces. Cut your engines and heave to," boomed K'Thane's augmented voice. It was dimly audible even to the breach team still racing towards the train. "Repeat, cut your engines."

Shattering windows and tracers answered the asari commando as a quartet of Assault Troopers opened fire from within the train car. The small arm rounds deflected off the shuttle's shields.

"They're shooting at us!" Jaa called.

"No, really?!" Marx's shot punched a hole through a trooper's torso and spun him to the ground. "Shoot back!"

Jaa loosed three rounds in rapid succession before cursing. "The car's reinforced! My shots aren't going through!"

"Did you not bring a piercing mod?" Marx said.

"We don't use them aboard-"

"We're not on a starship! Penetration is good!"

"Nemesis!" K'Thane called. "Rear window!"

A high-powered shot burst Marx's shields and she ducked back into the shuttle to let them recharge. K'Thane fired a suppressive volley from her Raptor. The Cerberus sniper rolled to another window and leveled her rifle. Vanol'Jaa staggered her with a round to the shoulder and then followed it up with a shot through the head.

"Nice shot!" Marx said as she swung back into action. She sighted in on a Cerberus Engineer working frantically at the train car control panel. One controlled press of the trigger punched a shot through his head, out the window behind it, and straight into the mountainside beyond the train car. "Gilbert! Can you stop the train?!"

The Geth Engineer stepped forward, taking K'Thane's place at the shuttle door. It stuck its head out and scanned the train car, oblivious to the wind rushing by. Gilbert launched an Overload into the car's engines. The train car jolted and then screeched, trailing sparks from its rail connections. The entire train groaned and slowed, battling inertia.

"The rear train car is still providing propulsion," Gilbert said. "Additional measures required." Their shuttle started to outpace the train and the pilot reduced speed to compensate. Jaa took down another hostile with a double-tap as Marx obliterated the last hapless trooper.

* * *

Rizzi's passenger car closed rapidly on the cargo train from behind with its front engine disabled. "Stay low," she told Vael as she and Wu crouched down beneath the windows. Vael crouched down halfway, and then threw herself to the deck as a trio of shots punctured the windows next to her. "Contact!" Rizzi shouted.

She peeked over the bottom edge of the window towards the tail car. A trio of Assault Troopers grouped at the rear of the car, shooting at the team's approaching car. Rizzi brought her pistol up and squeezed off a pair of shots, the suppressed weapon clacking in her hands. She ducked back down as an enemy shot ricocheted off the window edge towards her shoulder where her barriers stopped it without harm.

Wu fired a Disrupter Blast into the group, sending them staggering. Murder Machine followed with a launched explosive that blew a hole in the rear of the enemy car. The geth fired a burst from its shotgun, but the distance allowed the troopers' body armor to stop the pellets. The distance between the cars continued to drop.

A thick swell of dark smoke filled the cargo car, hiding the enemies. Wu sent another Disrupter Blast into the car. The team's car continued pulling closer and closer. A ferocious burst of fire spewed out from the smoke-filled car, driving the team down. Rizzi's HUD flashed with warnings as the volume of fire punched through the thin body of the passenger car and overwhelmed her barriers. She felt a sharp punch in her ribs. A quick check revealed her armor had stopped the shot. She looked back up to see the cargo car alongside theirs - and then falling behind as they passed it.

"Vael!" she said. "Keep us alongside them!"

"Right! I'm on it!" The car slowed fractionally and then slowed more, allowing the enemy car to catch up.

"The door!" Rizzi sent a Biotic Throw into the side door of the parallel car. It dented and deformed but remained shut. Wu hit it with a biotic blast of his own, but failed to breach it.

A crackling sheen of ice and frost coated the door. "Try it now!" Vael called. Rizzi's second Throw blew the door apart in a spray of flash frozen shards. A stream of tracers accompanied the buzz saw chattering as a turret inside opened fire.

"They've got engineers in there!" Rizzi said. "We need to take out that turret!" She looked out, located the deployed gun, and warped it.

"Affirmative!" Murder Machine launched a proximity mine at the turret's base and then destroyed it with a volley of shotgun fire.

The two train cars matched velocities. Rizzi slid over to their side door and popped it open. Before she could think about what she was doing, she hurled herself through the meter wide gap. The second she spent in the air felt like an eternity before she landed in the mangled doorway of the enemy car. A trooper at the rear of the car cried out and opened fire.

Rizzi blew him out the destroyed cabin rear with a biotic pulse. He dropped out of sight screaming as she spun towards the front. A Cerberus Engineer pointed his pistol at her and she dove out of the way as he pulled the trigger.

Two roars echoed through the car as Murder Machine decloaked next to her, firing its gun and downing the Engineer. A second Engineer fired wildly at them, destroying the geth's shields. Rizzi encased him in a warp field, trying to avoid further damage to the car. A Cryo Blast soared in through a destroyed window and froze the Engineer in place. A pistol shot through the same window an instant later dropped the Engineer.

She checked behind as Murder Machine advanced. The busted cab rear revealed that gorgeous sky and landscapes. Murder Machine fired two more shots. "Clear!" it called.

Rizzi felt like something was watching her. She narrowed her eyes and took a second look. Cliffs outside continued to slide by the moving train. She saw a flicker of distortion against one wall and summoned her Annihilation Field with a twitch of her hand. The flicker blurred towards her as she took a step forward. The Phantom shimmered into view as Rizzi's aura disrupted her cloak.

She was already moving as the Phantom reached for its sheathed sword. Rizzi scissored her crossed forearms into her opponent's sword arm to jam the draw even as her aura flayed the Phantom's barriers. The Cerberus commando flipped away, kicking out as she did so. Rizzi slid forward after her to keep her aura in range and launched a biotic pulse. The ensuing detonation burst what remained of the Phantom's barriers and staggered her back towards the edge of the open cabin. Rizzi blinked forward into a side kick that landed straight into the surprised Phantom's chest and launched her out the back of the train car. Unlike the trooper from before, the Phantom remained silent as she plummeted away.

"That's two now," Marx said as their shuttle circled. "I thought we weren't throwing people out the airlock?"

"You just said we're not on a starship," Jaa said.

"Same principle," Marx replied.

"Alert," Murder Machine said. "This vehicle is wired with explosives. Recommend immediate evacuation." Rizzi turned to see the geth sprinting for the ruined car door and cursed. She ran for the door herself. There was a sharp crack as she went to leap across; the car jolted and dropped a half meter as she jumped. She didn't quite clear the gap.

Rizzi flung her arms out as she saw her jump fall short and just managed to get her arms through the bottom of the passenger car's doorway. She slid backwards, scrabbling for a grip. Somebody seized her wrist and pulled.

"I got you," Wu said as he hauled her up. "Don't scare me like that." Murder Machine grabbed her other arm and together they pulled her back into the train car. Rizzi looked back to cargo car as a series of small explosions ripped through its top. Sharp staccato cracks accompanied the puffs of smoke.

The explosions destroyed the struts holding the car to the rail above. The already damaged car fell away from the rail. Its left side dropped loose first, and it rotated slowly through the air until it crashed into the mountainside a hundred meters below with a thud that Rizzi felt in her gut.

"And now we're wrecking victim vessels," Marx said. "I love being a pirate."

"Marx…" Rizzi said once she caught her breath.

"Come on; don't tell me you didn't enjoy that."

Rizzi grinned beneath her faceplate. "Okay, that _was _pretty fun."

"We'll start our own pirate band after the war."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, Lieutenant," Banafsheh said.

"Captain, what do we do now?" Wu asked. The seven massive containers, bereft of locomotion, slowly lost speed. Vael paced them with their passenger car. "We don't have a way to move these containers."

"I know," Banafsheh sighed. "We've already contacted Celeste and Nevos Emergency Services. Law enforcement and medical are on the way to the complex. Breach team, I need you to return there and help secure it. Celeste is prepping another cargo train from offsite to retrieve that palladium shipment. Overwatch team will remain in position and escort the minerals back."

"Copy that," Rizzi said. She looked around at their perforated car and turned to Vael. "Can we make it back?"

The quarian shrugged. "Sure, as long as we don't have to get into another high speed chase." A few taps at the control panel had the car reversing. The shuttle continued to circle the stationary cargo train.

"So… about that ideal situation, Captain…" Marx said.

"Quiet, Lieutenant."

* * *

It took nearly four hours after returning to the Celeste complex to clear it. Even with law enforcement and Celeste security operating the internal sensors, its size and layout required tedious checks room by room. They didn't find any Cerberus personnel throughout the facility, though there were several booby traps left in the loading bay. The sniper team returned with the palladium halfway through the search and took up the search as well, clearing different sectors of the complex.

The teams pulled out an hour after the final palladium container had been loaded and shuttled away to the _Mussai_. Medical shuttles carried away the murdered Celeste staff as law enforcement officers poured in.

"We should probably be thankful Cerberus only wanted that palladium too," Rizzi said as they waited for the shuttles on the landing pad.

"And that most of the workers weren't in," Vael said. "That could have been really bad."

"That went pretty smoothly," Marx said as the sniper team joined them.

Vael stared at her. "That was your idea of smooth? We destroyed a train!"

"Nobody here is wounded or dead," the Infiltrator replied. "That's smooth enough for me. And we got the loot."

Rizzi turned to Marx and couldn't suppress her laugh. "What did you do to your helmet?"

Marx's gray helmet had a black band painted all around it at forehead level. She'd also painted the area around her left eye lens with a black eye patch. She shrugged. "I thought I'd get in the mood."

"You know we're not actually pirates, right?"

Vael stepped closer. "But… we destroyed a train! How is that smooth?"

"Compared to some of the other things that have exploded during our missions, a train's no big deal," Marx said.

"What?" Vael's eyes grew wider behind her mask.

"Well the last mission out, we blew up a fuel depot."

"That wasn't exactly us," Rizzi said. "Our frigate did that."

"Not the point."

"We didn't destroy anything on the C-Sec job before that," K'Thane added.

"Sure _we _didn't, but Rizzi here had to go and smash up a container of fruit," Marx said. Vael and K'Thane turned to Rizzi.

"Was this part of your… activities with Wu?" K'Thane said.

"No," Rizzi said at the same time that Marx said, "Yes." K'Thane grinned.

"Oh and on Otte we blew up the city," Marx continued.

"You… blew up the city?" Vael echoed.

"A task force in orbit bombarded the place as we were evacuating," Wu said. "We nearly got caught in it."

"Why did they bombard the-"

"Reapers."

"Oh." Vael nodded. "Of course."

"There was Ontarom before that," Rizzi said. "Nothing destroyed there. We actually stopped an explosion, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"Cerberus tried to nuke a comm relay we were repairing," Marx said.

The quarians exchanged glances. "Does this sort of thing happen often with you all?" Jaa said.

"We lead a charmed life," Rizzi said. She looked up as she heard the whine of approaching shuttles in the late afternoon sky. The blue painted shuttles were difficult to spot against the darkening sky. A thought struck her as she located the two growing shapes. "I wonder what Cerberus was planning to do with the palladium."

"What do you mean?" Wu asked.

"I mean how they were planning to move it off-planet," she said. "Where were they taking the train to? Did they have prepared shuttles and ships?"

"We've been working on that up here," Banafsheh said. "We have a freighter marked as a probable target. That's where the shuttles will take you."

"Are we going with standard board and search procedures?" Rizzi said.

"More or less," Banafsheh replied. "If Cerberus is involved expect resistance, but don't go in guns blazing. We've got enough damage control on our hands today."

The shuttles grew larger, the whines deepening into roars as they approached the landing pad. "Did everybody catch that?" Rizzi asked the teams. "Are we all set?"

"Are the shuttles carrying resupplies?" Murder Machine said. "Thermal clip replenishment recommended."

"Yes they are," Banafsheh said.

"This platform will be combat-ready then."

"On we go then," Marx said as the shuttles came to parallel hovers on the landing pad. "No rest for the wicked."

"You're the one who wanted to be a pirate," said Rizzi. She sighed. "And this was such a nice planet."


	20. Offers and Dreams

"Freighter _Gloriana Sapiens_, prepare to be boarded. Cut your engines and heave to. Shuttles are on intercept course. Resistance or failure to comply will be interpreted as hostile action. Repeat, this is the _SSV Salvador_. Freighter _Gloriana Sapiens,_ prepare to be boarded…"

Rizzi let the comm chatter fade to the back of her mind. She watched the freighter's steady icon on the screen in the shuttle's passenger compartment. The _Gloriana_ powered away from the school of freighters and passenger liners in orbit around Nevos awaiting landing permissions. Together they formed a cloud of glowing symbols on the screen. The closest icons peeled away, trying to put as much distance between them and the approaching _Salvador_ as possible.

"That was a mistake," Vael said at Rizzi's side. "Her captain just opened up a clear line of fire."

The _Salvador _powered in like a shark scenting blood, its weapons ready. More civilian ships scattered from its path.

"_Gloriana Sapiens_, this is your final warning," the _Salvador's_ captain broadcast. "Cut your engines or we will disable them by force."

The freighter's icon blinked twice in surrender; its distance readout dropped swiftly.

"Ammo check," Rizzi said as she took stock of her own thermal clip count.

"I'm fine," Wu said.

"Thermal clips at maximum capacity," Murder Machine said.

"Um, where do I get more?" Vael said. Rizzi pointed at the container mounted in the compartment's rear wall. "Oh, thanks."

"Two minutes, L-T," the pilot said.

"Copy that," Rizzi replied. "We got a standard docking tube?"

"Yes ma'am. Already extended too. Looks like they're playing nice."

"Can you blame them with a cruiser breathing down their necks?"

"Not one bit. You're the first team in, L-T. Shuttle Gamma is right behind us."

"How did you want to do this?" Wu said. "Politely?"

"Sure," Rizzi said. She drew her pistol. "Also heavily armed."

"Just in case?"

"I've had enough surprises for one day."

* * *

The tall, stately man dressed in a plain but clean suit blanched as Rizzi and Wu emerged from the docking tube with Vael and Murder Machine on their heels. He stared at Rizzi and she soon realized it was her faceplate that captivated his attention. The captain gazed at her sinister mask, eyes wide and alarmed. His fingertips beat a rapid pattern against his thigh.

Rizzi scanned up and down the narrow corridor. No heavily armed ambush crew, a good sign. She holstered her weapon and turned back to the dark-skinned man standing at attention. "Are you the captain?"

"Benjamin Tuca, at your service ma'am." He looked over the assembled squad before snapping his gaze back to Rizzi's mask. "What is this about?"

"Nevos control has your presence listed as a cargo pickup. Is this true?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Expected load of seven thousand tons?"

"Yes…" Tuca frowned. "What's going on?"

"Are you running late?"

"Yes, we are. The contact and shipment aren't here yet."

"Are you aware of what just occurred planetside, Captain?"

"We're hearing reports about some kind of incident at Celeste Mineral."

"Several hours ago, a Cerberus team just tried to steal a palladium stockpile from Celeste. Seven thousand tons of the stuff."

Tuca went very still. "Officer, surely you don't think we're working for Cerberus?"

"You're the only freighter in Nevos orbit with the intent to take on seven thousand tons of cargo," Rizzi said. "Your listed contract is with Tricanine Enterprises. That didn't strike you as strange?"

"Well, they did say this job would help with the war effort." Tuca looked like he'd just been told he was next up to wrestle a krogan. "That they were developing weapons and technology on behalf of the Alliance."

"It probably would have gone into the war effort," Wu said. "Just not the one you want to see win."

"I knew nothing about this. Please! It was just a job." Tuca's eyes widened again as the hatch to the docking tube clanked open. The sniper team strolled into the corridor, filling it up like a crowded Citadel apartment. "I will of course cooperate to the full extent. Please, just tell me how we can resolve this."

"We need to inspect your crew and your cargo, Captain."

"Of course," Tuca said.

"We'll inspect the crew," K'Thane said. "Your roster lists eleven including yourself."

"Yes. I'll have everybody assemble in the crew quarters."

"Can you vouch for your crew members?"

"We've all been together for years," Tuca said. "I can't imagine any of them being part of Cerberus. My first mate is married to an asari."

"Let's go meet them," Marx said. "Which way to the crew quarters?"

"Please don't hurt anybody. We'll cooperate."

"We're Alliance military, not pirates," Rizzi said.

"Your friend has an eyepatch painted on her helmet."

"She's…" Rizzi groaned. "Ignore her; she's… demonstrating team spirit. But she won't hurt anyone without reason."

"I… I see. Well, this way, please."

Captain Tuca led them up the corridor to the left. The _Gloriana_'s first mate met them halfway to the crew quarters. A short, middle-aged man, he led the sniper team to the crew quarters as Tuca turned back down the corridor they came and said, "This way to the cargo bay."

"Just relax," Rizzi said. "We're not going to hurt anybody."

"That may prove a fallacious statement," Murder Machine said. "Operational history indicates Cerberus personnel will be met with significant violence." Tuca's eyes widened again.

"I'm trying to reassure the captain," Rizzi said. She barely caught herself before saying Murder Machine's name. Somehow, she doubted that would help.

"That is pointless," Murder Machine replied. "Either he is innocent and we do not harm him or he is working with Cerberus and we inflict physical violence upon him."

"How did you get this contract anyway?" Rizzi said to Tuca, trying to change the subject.

"Just an extranet posting. Business has been tight ever since the war started. I just never made the connection between Tricanine and Cerberus. It seemed like a solid job with good pay."

Rizzi nodded along but kept her attention on the corridor, watching for an ambush. Captain Tuca certainly appeared earnest, but that meant about as much as a Reaper peace offer.

"Nevos isn't the first stop for this contract," Tuca said. "We had stops at Capek and Sthenia."

"Did you take on cargo from those destinations?"

"Yes ma'am. Everything's in the hold."

"You never met your clients?"

"No. We were only given coordinates and times. We only dealt with local workers unloading crates."

"Then you got lucky," Rizzi said. "You and your crew would have been dead men after this stop."

"What do you mean?" Tuca's fingers started drumming their pattern again.

"We just took out multiple Cerberus soldiers trying to steal that palladium. What do you think they would have done once they came aboard?"

"I… I see," Tuca said, and fell silent.

They passed a doorway that Rizzi checked. The hum and whir of an engineering room greeted her first. She swept her gaze over the machines filling the space, looking for potential threats. A part of her mind registered the state of the machinery in the room. They weren't the fanciest or latest tech but were clean and looked well cared for, much like the corridor they marched down.

Tuca led them to a locked hatch the color of old butter. He brought them through to the _Gloriana_'s cargo bay. It was a rectangular room two stories high and over twice as large as an Alliance frigate's shuttle bay. The hatchway brought them out onto a short grated loft overlooking the entirety of the bay. A steep metal staircase on the right side of the loft led down to the flat deck, scuffed and worn by the pressure of countless cargo containers. Several dozen boxes stacked chest high cluttered the corner beneath the loft. Four larger crates, each of which could have comfortably fit a skycar, squatted in a neat row along the left wall like dusky gray molars.

"What's in the small boxes?" Wu said.

"Circuit boards, electronics, and what looks like some lab equipment."

"Those?" Rizzi pointed to the crates against the wall.

"Iridium."

Rizzi's eyes widened behind her facemask as she turned to Tuca. "Do you usually haul this many precious minerals around?"

"Not usually, but like I said, they told me it was for the war effort."

"What's in there?" Wu said as he indicated the large white crate in the opposite corner. It stood twice the height of a man- as wide as it was tall and even longer than the four iridium crates beside it.

"I… don't know," Tuca said, shaking his head. "We took that on at Capek. It was our last load before we stopped here."

"Open it."

Captain Tuca led them down the metal stairs and across the cargo bay. He punched a sequence into the keypad mounted in the crate door. Nothing happened.

"That was the shipmaster's override," he said. "That should have opened it."

Vael stepped forward, her omni-tool raised. "Let me take a look."

"This is most irregular…"

"You're in probable collusion with enemies of the sentient species in wartime, Captain," Wu said. "Don't make it worse for yourself."

"Just let us do our jobs and it'll be fine," Rizzi said.

Tuca blanched and swallowed with an audible gulp. "All yours, madam," he said to Vael.

"Uh, thanks." The quarian moved to the keypad and interfaced her omni-tool to it. Streaming lines of code swept by on the haptic display. "That's not good."

"What is it?" Rizzi said.

"This thing has crazy security for a cargo container." She scrolled through more blinking code. Portions of it turned from calm green to irritated orange. "Oh. It looks like the shipmaster's override triggered a security protocol."

"Alert." Murder Machine's light turned red as it drew its shotgun. "Power signatures detected."

The crate door unlocked with a clack like a gunshot in the hold.

"Back!" Rizzi said. The team withdrew from the crate. Rizzi saw Tuca rooted to the spot before the door. "You too, Captain!" She ran back, gripped his arm, and tugged him away.

"What's happening?" Tuca's eyes were wide again. He stared at Rizzi's drawn weapon, then jumped as a crash like a skycar accident knocked the crate door asunder.

"Keep your head down and get to cover!" She pushed him towards the gray containers.

A second blow flung the door from its hinges as a hulking bipedal figure stomped out of the ruined crate. It towered over the team. Vertically stacked red eye lights glared from a tubular head. Rizzi had enough time to notice the Cerberus logo emblazoned on its white chest plate before its right arm sprang open, revealing a gun barrel that should have been a crew-served weapon.

The mech fired an extended burst. Its arm cannon boasted a rate of fire that made it sound like a single industrial scream of hate as it scythed shots through the cargo bay. The team crammed themselves behind the row of iridium crates. Vael jerked once as a round smacked off her shields. The cargo hold, cleared and arranged to await the shipment from Nevos, offered little cover.

"What the hell's going on?" Marx said in Rizzi's earpiece. "Is that gunfire?!"

"YMIR mech! In the cargo bay!"

"On our way!"

Rizzi tackled Tuca down as the mech goliath advanced slowly towards them, its treads reverberating off the metal deck. "Stay down!" More rounds punched overhead.

Vael launched a Cryo Blast at the YMIR mech which its shielded bulk shrugged off. Wu's disruptor blast staggered the mech, interrupting its attempt to deploy the rocket launcher in its left arm. Rizzi activated her Annihilation Field and blinked through the crate towards the mech. She sprinted the last few meters over and launched a Biotic Throw at the YMIR. The towering mech recovered faster than she expected and swept its right arm across at chest level, knocking her backwards into an iridium crate. Barrier warnings flashed in her HUD.

Murder Machine decloaked in front of the YMIR, emptying its shotgun into the mech's head. The YMIR jerked twice and emitted a series of piercing beeps. "Cover!" Rizzi cried as she blinked back through the crate.

The geth backpedalled from the terminally damaged mech, but not quite far enough. The YMIR's self-destruct triggered with a flash and roar that filled the cargo hold. Murder Machine staggered back, its shields down and body scorched. Another burst of fire flew out of the large crate and hammered through the geth's midsection. Murder Machine's light cut out as it dropped to the deck.

A second YMIR emerged from the now-scorched crate. It panned its head over towards the crates sheltering the rest of the squad. Rizzi leaned out to warp the mech and felt a slap against her upper arm. Wu's Biotic Slash knocked it back a step as it continued spraying shots towards them.

Rizzi's HUD suddenly glowed with a tactical outline of the YMIR, depicting its shield level and systems integrity. A pair of shots lanced into its head from the cargo bay door entrance above. Crackling jolts of electricity surged over the mech and its shield levels dropped drastically. Rizzi looked back to see Marx and Jaa taking position on opposite ends of the loft as K'Thane and Gilbert vaulted over the railing to the deck.

"Aim for center mass," Marx said. "That weakens their self-destruct."

A barrage of weapons fire and biotics dropped the rest of the YMIR's shields. The mech launched a rocket at the charging K'Thane; she dodged it with a biotic dash to the left. The rocket soared by and smashed into the cargo hold bulkhead with a _crump_ of detonation. Another burst sparked off her Tech Armor as she closed the distance and warped the mech.

Another Overload from Gilbert coursed through the YMIR as Jaa shot it twice in its left shoulder joint. Marx's rifle tore through its right arm. The mechanical limb, already weakened by biotic warping fields, tore off at the elbow and sparked impotently. Another pair of Viper shots smacked into the mech's torso. "Reloading!" Jaa said.

Marx's next shot punched a fist-sized hold through its torso and brought it to a shuddering halt. The mech slumped over and beeped thrice before exploding, but with a smaller detonation than the first one. Wu groaned as a piece of shrapnel sliced into his side.

Rizzi moved to Wu's side as Vael walked tentatively to Murder Machine. Gilbert joined Vael as she bent over the downed geth. "Do I just… apply omni-gel to the internals?" she asked Gilbert.

"Affirmative." The quarian pulled an omni-gel dispenser from a suit pocket and squirted a measure into the exposed cabling running through Murder Machine's ruptured torso. Gilbert reached in and tweaked one of the cables. Murder Machine's lights blinked on and off several times before they stayed on and the geth sat up. It turned its head to Vael.

"Systems rebooted. My thanks, Creator Vael," it said. Pushing itself to its feet, the geth replaced the thermal clip of its weapon before holstering it.

"Um, you're welcome."

Over by the iridium crates Rizzi looked over Wu's side, examining his wound. The Vanguard had already plucked the shrapnel piece from his side to let his suit cover the cut with medi-gel. "It's not bad," he said. "Pretty shallow." He took hold of her arm. ""How bad is this?"

Rizzi looked down and realized she'd been hit as the adrenaline rush of the fight faded. She finally felt the cold wet press of omni-gel from her armor's systems. "I didn't even notice." She took his hand with hers and squeezed it.

"Excuse me, what just happened?" Tuca said as he stood up from where he'd been crouched in the corner. The teams turned to the ship captain; they'd forgotten about him during the fight.

"You just got a taste of what Cerberus planned to do to you," Rizzi said.

He looked over the blast marks, bullet holes, and mech pieces scattered around his cargo bay and took a deep breath. "I am so sorry," he said. "I had no clue. Please, I never meant for any of this to happen."

"I'm inclined to believe you," Rizzi said. "Let me talk to my CO." She relayed the events to Banafsheh.

"I'm heading over," she said.

"Captain?"

"There's already a shuttle on its way for medical evac. I believe there's an opportunity here, Lieutenant. Tell Captain Tuca I'm coming over to make him an offer."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

* * *

The shuttle pulled away from the _Gloriana Sapiens_. Inside sat Rizzi, Wu, and the two geth. The two N7s had both protested that they were mission capable but Alliance regulations dictated their withdrawal with the end of a hostile action. They'd passed Banafsheh as she disembarked onto the freighter, uniform neat and business face on.

Susan looked over at Murder Machine, who stood in the passenger compartment with an exposed midsection. "How badly are you damaged?" she asked. "That looks pretty serious."

"Geth are not reliant on internal organs to remain functional," it said. "My operational capacity is not significantly impaired."

"That's impressive," Elijah said. "You've practically got a hole right through you."

"Yes. It rather tickles."

Susan and Elijah both stared at the geth. "Okay," Susan said.

"Our observations indicate organ-sacks frequently utilize humor in the aftermath of stressful situations."

Susan smiled as she removed her facemask. "Are you trying to make us feel better? That's sweet."

It was remarkable how a faceless machine managed to look so insulted. "Please refrain from referring to my attempts to improve unit efficiency as 'sweet', organ-sack."

Susan kept smiling. "Yes, oh platform of indiscriminate carnage. Thank you for the attempt. We appreciate it."

Murder Machine stared back at her for a moment before shifting. "You are welcome," it said quietly.

Susan moved over to the seat on Elijah's unhurt side and leaned against him. He removed his own facemask and wrapped his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder for the flight back to the _Salvador_.

* * *

Doctor Chung finished applying another layer of medi-gel to Elijah's side and secured a sterile pad over the stitches. He nodded his thanks and she turned away towards Susan, portable scanner in hand.

"I'm fine, Doctor," Susan said. "It's just a gunshot wound."

"Lieutenant, I think you've been fighting this war too long," Flora Chung said, an eyebrow raised on her lined face. "The terms 'I'm fine' and 'it's a gunshot wound' do not belong in the same statement."

Susan opened her mouth to reply and then shut it. Hard to argue with that. She must have been more tired than she'd realized. "I mean, it's not bad."

"I'll be the judge of that, if you please." Doctor Chung examined the wound in Susan's arm and gave a small tongue click of surprise. "Compared to the previous times you ended up in my care, this actually isn't bad. No skeletal damage, no risk to major blood vessels."

The doctor patched up the gash in Susan's arm with quick, calm movements.

"Thank you, Doctor." Susan reached down for her discarded shoulder piece.

"Not so fast," Doctor Chung said. "You've both been in combat recently. I want to get some readings from your biotic implants." She stepped to a cabinet and retrieved an implant reader.

Susan sighed. "Yes, Doctor."

Twenty minutes later, Susan and Elijah emerged from the med bay carrying pieces of their armor. Susan looked down at her patched arm and then at Elijah. "You feel ready to get back to it?" she asked.

"Never felt the need to leave," he said. "Grab some weapons and head to the shuttle bay?"

"Sounds like a plan."

The scene inside the armory reminded Susan of surgery. Murder Machine laid stretched out on one of the larger workbenches. Chief Thomas and an engineer stood huddled over it, tools in hand and conversing with Gilbert. The geth engineer described its internal structure and answered questions about parts and wiring. The crackle of tools and quiet voices filled the armory.

The N7s moved to the weapon lockers without disturbing the repair scene. Rizzi grabbed a Suppressor and checked its ammo block.

"How do you like it?" Elijah said with a nod at her pistol. He drew an Eagle himself and checked its sight alignments.

"Not bad," Susan said. "It took procurement long enough to issue me something other than a heavy weapon.

He snorted. "Tell me about it. How's the handling?"

"Surprisingly soft. It's no hand cannon, but it hits hard in the right spots." Susan smiled as Elijah handed her a weapon-mounted amplifier. "You know just how to accessorize a lady," she said as she attached it to the Suppressor and checked its interface with her armor.

"No diamond-encrusted version, I'm afraid."

"I never saw the big deal about jewelry anyways. Ready to head out?"

Elijah holstered his own pistol. "After you."

The shuttle bay stood one corridor away from the armory. Over twice the size of a frigate's bay, two shuttles stood ready for launch while a third hung from maintenance rails. Even as Susan and Elijah walked through the entrance a fourth shuttle slipped in through the open outer doors and settled to the deck with a bass hum. The shuttle door opened to reveal Banafsheh, ubiquitous data pad in hand. She looked up and paused as she saw the armed and armored operatives in the bay.

"And where do you two think you're going?"

"Back to the _Gloriana_, Captain, to finish the mission," Rizzi said.

Banafsheh shook her head. "Your enthusiasm is noted, but there's no need; we're about to get underway."

"Ma'am?" Elijah said. "What did we miss?"

"I made Captain Tuca a counter-offer," Banafsheh said as the hum of the shuttle faded. "The _Gloriana _will work for us, hauling cargo for the Crucible project. She'll accompany us back to the fleet muster."

"Where's the rest of the squad?" Susan asked.

"They're remaining aboard the _Gloriana_ until we reach the muster."

"Insurance?" Susan raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I don't anticipate any trouble," Banafsheh said. "The crew was rather thankful you all stopped a pair of heavy mechs from killing them."

"Not to mention a Cerberus squad?"

"Indeed." The pitch of the background noise shifted lower. "Ah, that should be us getting underway now. Go ahead and return your gear; I want your after-action reports by 0900 hours tomorrow."

"Aye, Captain."

* * *

Half an hour later the two biotics headed to the mess hall after stowing their equipment. Stomachs growling, they heaped plates with brown rice, stewed vegetables, and repackaged protein slabs. They sat down at an unoccupied table and unceremoniously shoved food into their mouths, barely tasting the fare as they replenished themselves.

Banafsheh walked into the hall, shoulders slumped, got her own portion, and shuffled over to Susan and Elijah's table. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Susan motioned Banafsheh to the bench spot next to her. "You're always welcome to join us, Captain."

"Appreciated, Lieutenant." Banafsheh slid down to the seat and picked at her plate with a fork. Susan and Elijah exchanged glances.

"Captain, are you alright?" Susan asked.

Banafsheh looked up, eyes wide. She ran a hand over her face, rubbing at the bags under her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You look tired."

"I feel tired." Banafsheh rubbed her face again. "Sorry. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Elijah swallowed a mouthful. "It's nice to see you're human." Susan and Banafsheh both turned to him and he waved his hands. "You know what I mean."

Banafsheh sat up straighter. "Would you care to elaborate on that, Wu?"

"All the COs I've known tend to be… paragons of composure," he said as he scratched his chin. "Professional, mission-focused-"

"Sticks up their rear orifices?" Banafsheh said.

"I… wouldn't exactly have put it that way, ma'am," Elijah said as Susan blinked.

"But it's what you meant. I understand the stereotype, Wu." She took another bite. "I've tried living up to it often enough."

"Why?"

"Appearances are important for morale here, Lieutenant." Banafsheh shrugged. "Do you think it would do you or anybody any good to see me coming apart?"

"What about yourself?" Susan asked. "Does it do you any good trying to keep up appearances all the time?"

"That doesn't really matter, Rizzi."

"Yes it does. It's okay to be a person, Captain. Important, even."

"That person wants to yell and scream every time I send operatives into harm's way. The Captain pushes that aside for the sake of duty.

"Okay… what about other things? Friends? Family? Is there anyone you're fighting for?"

"This life doesn't lend itself to stable, committed relationships," Banafsheh said with a sigh. Her eyes glazed over in regret. "There was… I was involved with somebody a few years ago. It ended poorly." She poked at her plate again before setting her fork down. "We just started speaking again when the war broke out."

"I'm sorry," Susan said.

"Oh, he's fine," Banafsheh said. "Coordinating convoys and refugee relocations keeps him busy."

"And here you are coordinating Special Ops teams," Elijah said.

Banafsheh sighed. "Pending doom has a way of putting past mistakes in context, but it doesn't leave much time and place to reconnect."

"What about after the war?"

"That would certainly be nice. No guarantee, though; we need to win this thing first."

"It always comes down to that," Susan said with a glance at Elijah.

Banafsheh didn't miss the glance. "Indeed. And there's not a whole lot we can do to influence that, other than executing each mission to the best of our abilities. In the meantime, enjoy what you can… and with whom you can."

"Shouldn't that apply to you too?"

"What do you think I do while you're all in the field?" Banafsheh said. Susan's fork froze halfway to her mouth. "I'm joking. Remind me to unwind a little next time we're on shore leave."

"Will do, ma'am." Susan smiled.

Banafsheh sighed again. "I do miss being in the field sometimes."

"What did they have you doing before this posting?"

"Intel training for prospective specialists. Before that, I did intel analysis and a number of covert ops in the Terminus Systems."

"Huh," Elijah said. "Anything you're allowed to talk about?"

"You know about one of them, Wu," said Banafsheh. "You were on it."

"I was?"

"You remember that batarian lab with the Reaper tech?"

Elijah's face soured. "Yeah. That mission went sideways real fast."

"I was chief analyst for that mission. You're right: that whole thing was a mess top to bottom."

"It's a miracle we didn't start a war with the batarians there."

"We very nearly did," Banafsheh said. She picked her fork back up and took a bite. "We dodged one by the skin of our teeth thanks to Commander Shepard and a third party."

"What are you guys talking about?" Susan asked.

"Not long after the Battle of the Citadel," Banafsheh began, "Alliance Intelligence put two and two together regarding what info we gathered about Saren's ship Sovereign, which we now understand to be a Reaper, and the Leviathan of Dis."

"I've heard of it," Susan said. "Some… mythical ancient ship corpse that predates any known species and tech. It disappeared following a visit from a batarian dreadnought…" She trailed off. "Wait. Are you saying the batarians had a Reaper corpse for all this time?"

"That's what we wanted to find out," Banafsheh said as she stood up. "Anybody else want coffee?" At their nods she moved briskly to the kitchen and returned with three mugs and a coffee pot. "We knew there was some kind of research being done at this lab," she continued as she poured. "It was supposed to be a quick sneak and peak: reconnaissance, plant some bugs, scope the sight out for future infiltration."

"So what happened?"

Banafsheh looked over to Elijah, who took up the narrative. "An extra batarian platoon, for starters. They were rotating in for some kind of experimental prototype testing."

Susan winced. "Ouch."

"And that was just the beginning. We also managed to arrive right as they changed all the access codes that we had to get in to the facility. We tripped a dozen alarms getting in and it went downhill from there…"

* * *

The second morning of their transit back to the fleet muster, Susan woke up in the team quarters snuggled against Elijah in his bunk. He was awake already, looking at her with weary face but eyes aglow with rare contentment, like cooling embers rekindled. She inhaled his scent: crisp like the plain soap they used but with an undertone of sweat, courtesy of last night's… activities. She smiled and brushed her lips against his.

"I could get used to this," she said.

"For how long?" he asked. "Do you plan to survive the war now?"

"I know I want to. But I'm afraid I just don't see a way to win this." She hugged him tighter, blinking away tears. "It's not fair," she said, her voice a husky whisper. "To fall in-" The words were stillborn. "To find someone you want to be with, in the middle of the end of days."

Elijah reached out with his free hand and took hold of hers, intertwining their fingers. "I know." His voice didn't sound much steadier than hers. "We've all lost people this war. They can't be replaced, but…" He gazed into her eyes and for a moment she felt like a powerless ship in a gas giant storm, torn in opposing directions. "If this is the end, then I want to face it with you."

"And I wish that wasn't the driving reality of our lives," she said. "I… I want to watch the krogan rebuild from the genophage, and start a new chapter. I want to see what the peace between the quarians and the geth looks like, and what it means for them to have their homeworld back." Susan felt tears wending their tracks down her face. "I want to sit in a café and learn about different kinds of coffee. I want to start that stupid biotic space jump company. I want to watch the moons rise on Nevos from a beach." Her voice lowered. "And I want to do all that with you. I wish that was the galaxy we lived in."

He said nothing, just held her tighter as she took several deep breaths. Finally he tilted her chin to his with a finger. "Let's do it," he said. "I know: nothing's certain. But _if_ we make it through this war, let's do those things. Together."

Susan nodded, closed her eyes, and rested her head on his chest. She listened to the quiet heartbeat and took another deep breath. It felt like all too brief a time before Elijah shifted and sighed. "We'd better get up."

Susan groaned, and then they both sat up as the _Salvador_ trembled in deceleration. She checked the time. "We arrived early."

"Or the muster location moved," Elijah said. He threw aside their blanket as they scrambled for discarded clothes.

"I wonder if something's happened," Susan said as they dressed.

"Let's go find out."

* * *

To Susan's surprise, they beat Banafsheh to the CIC. She moved over to the tactical holo display with Elijah at her side. "The fleet's a lot smaller," she said as they looked over the glowing ship icons.

"There must be an action going on somewhere," Elijah said as he brought up their current coordinates. He frowned. "We're near asari space."

"I thought they weren't formally part of this alliance."

"They weren't," Banafsheh's voice sounded behind them. The N7s turned to see the captain rubbing exhaustion from her eyes. Her uniform, while not exactly rumpled, wasn't its usual pristine state.

"Weren't?" Elijah echoed.

"I have a feeling they're changing their minds right about now," Banafsheh said as she walked up to the display. She gazed at the fleet markers for a moment before looking back at the couple.

"What happened?" Susan asked, a tendril of ice boring its way through her gut.

"We got word an hour ago. Thessia just fell to the Reapers."


	21. Thessia: Descent

Susan had never seen or heard the Lair in such turmoil. Operatives from all species held loud, frantic discussions in corridors and rooms. Support staff fidgeted at their posts as screens and displays throughout the Lair showed news programs. Footage captured of Thessia's fall played repeatedly. Susan saw snippets of landing Reapers, crumbling buildings, and retreating asari. She and Elijah hurried through the corridors to their briefing room. There would be no downtime after the last mission; units were practically thrown into the fight as soon as they could assemble.

Walking past a salarian and quarian discussing potential deployments, Susan moved up to the security checkpoint to Intel Sector Three. On the other side, she waited for Elijah and they walked past more operatives to Briefing Room Seven. They were the first into the little square room.

"Think we're going to Thessia?" Susan said as they took two of the seats.

"Would there be a point?" Elijah replied. "I get that we're probably heading for asari space, but Thessia? You've seen the news reports."

"There's something about… homeworlds, isn't there?" Susan let out a breath. "I mean… I know that physically, it's just another planet in a galaxy filled with them. But there's something different about seeing a colony attacked, and seeing that happen to a homeworld."

"I know what you mean. I always thought… no matter where in the galaxy I went, Earth would always be there. That… I could always return, and somehow it'd be the same."

"A sense of persistence," Susan said. "Stability."

"Right." He nodded, gazing into the distance. "You know it's not true, not really. But it feels that way. And now… the illusion's gone. Dust and ash, like the people we…"

Susan reached out and grabbed his hand. "Hey, stay with me."

"Sorry." Elijah refocused his gaze on her and squeezed her hand. He tried to smile. "Not everybody's gone." He let out a long sigh of his own. "K'Thane's probably really down right now."

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for several minutes until the door hissed open. Lisa Marx walked in, followed closely by Maiena K'Thane. The asari commando looked devastated. The humans all knew the look well; they'd seen it often enough in the aftermath of Earth's fall. Susan moved over to Maiena's side as she collapsed into a chair like a hanar on Dekuuna's surface.

"Maiena, how are you?" asked Susan.

The commando looked back at her with red-rimmed eyes. "What do you think?" She blinked and ran a hand over her face. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. We understand."

Maiena's features softened. "Yes… I suppose you do." She looked at the three of them. "All of you. When… when this war started, I thought Earth fell because humanity was too weak to hold it, too foolish. I see now we were the foolish ones, to believe ourselves inviolate against the Reapers."

Lisa moved to Maiena's other side and put an arm around her shoulders. "Everybody underestimated those things."

"We more than others," Maiena said. "I knew we needed to work with the other species. That's why I joined the Special Ops teams. Too bad our leaders didn't see the same."

"Too bad nobody believed Shepard about the Reapers to begin with," Susan said.

The door opened and Banafsheh walked in. The captain looked even more worn than before, and Susan could imagine the chaos she must have been dealing with. Banafsheh turned to Maiena, an expression of sympathy on her face. "Huntress K'Thane - Maiena - I'm so sorry."

Maiena nodded her thanks, and said, "I'll deal with it. What's the mission, Captain?"

Banafsheh set her data pad on the table by the inner wall. "We're going to Thessia."

Elijah's eyes widened. "To do what?"

"Evacuation," Banafsheh replied. She activated the holo projector sitting on the table and brought up an orbital view of the asari homeworld. "Thessia held out for significantly longer than Earth or even Palaven. The asari fleets used hit-and-run tactics to notable effect. That worked until the Reapers decided to just soak the losses and land mass quantities of ground troops. Once that happened, it was over. Asari commandos, while individually skilled," she said with a nod to Maiena, "aren't trained or equipped for pitched battles and wars of attrition."

"That wasn't something we ever thought we'd need to do," Maiena said. "Much less on the homeworld."

"The silver lining here is that although asari units were overwhelmed on the ground, many of them managed to escape and evade Reaper forces: go into hiding, link up, and conduct guerilla strikes. They've also taken charge of a sizable portion of the civilian population, moving them around in groups from one spot to another. That's where we come in."

"Aren't the Reapers there in force?" Susan asked. "Are we just… throwing the fleets at them?"

Banafsheh shook her head. "Actually, reconnaissance drones indicate the Reaper count at Thessia has dropped significantly since they took the planet. From the scans, it looks like they left behind a… call it a garrison level force. They don't all stick around, which is what makes this plan possible."

"What _is_ the plan?"

"The plan…" Banafsheh's jaw worked for a moment, like she was chewing a particularly tough piece of meat. "The plan is for heavier fleet elements to engage and distract the Reapers while Special Ops teams insert into Thessia via close drops from frigates and shuttles. The fleets will then retreat to FTL and withdraw from the system."

By now, the team gazed at Banafsheh with a mixture of incredulity and horror. "The teams will make contact and link up with surviving asari units on the ground," she continued with an air of resigned recitation. "You'll coordinate with them to get as many civilian evacuees to designated extraction coordinates. Twelve hours after insertion, the fleets will return to Thessia orbit and draw off the Reapers. Shuttles will land at the coordinates and extract any friendlies there."

Lisa crossed her arms. "Can I just say this is a monumentally _insane_ plan?"

"You'll get no argument from me there, Lieutenant."

"How are we to contact units on the ground?" Maiena said.

"Asari command has given us contact codes and frequencies to be used in the event of a doomsday scenario."

Maiena nodded. "This qualifies."

"Why Thessia?" Lisa asked. She raised her hands at Maiena's hurt and furious look. "Nobody's denying it's bad, but why didn't this happen for Earth?"

Banafsheh squeezed the bridge of her nose for a moment, looking between Lisa and Maiena. "Let me try to be as… circumspect as possible. There are multiple factors at play here."

"Like?"

"Take it easy, Lieutenant."

"I wouldn't mind hearing the reasons myself," Maiena said. "This does seem a very different response compared to Palaven or Earth."

"We can start with the political reasons," Banafsheh said. The squad groaned. "I know; everybody dreads that word. But the fact is, the asari were the discoverers of the Citadel this cycle and that's played out in terms of political ramifications. There are many asari in positions of influence throughout the galaxy."

"So they're what – calling in favors? Pulling strings?" Lisa said.

"Some of them," Banafsheh admitted. "But there's also the need to maintain… appearances. Like it or not that plays a major part in morale, not just in the armed services but also for civilians across the galaxy. Remember that humanity is a relative newcomer to the galactic scene; to many of the Citadel species, the asari have always been one of the foundations of galactic culture. Right now, that matters."

"But the influential politicians are off-world," Susan said.

"Appearances, Lieutenant, appearances." Banafsheh shrugged. "That goes hand-in-hand with economic realities. Many asari companies have their headquarters and top personnel on Thessia."

"What about human companies on Earth?" Elijah said.

"Surprisingly few, when it comes to the war effort. Most big human conglomerates saw our future in the stars and expanded beyond Earth, to the Citadel and Council space. That's what let us keep fighting this war so far. Now we need the capital that the asari corporations can bring to both military assets and the Crucible project."

"So we're evacuating corporate heads?" Susan said.

"I understand the units on the ground prioritized persons of influence. The reality is we're also trying to evacuate as many asari units as we can. Sorry to put it so bluntly, Huntress K'Thane, but Thessia is essentially a lost cause right now. We desperately need experienced commando units elsewhere."

Maiena nodded mutely.

"And there's one more reason that's honestly unclear right now," Banafsheh continued. "An asari research team contacted the Council and presented something to do with certain genetic markers present in some asari. It was all classified and hushed, that's the extent of my knowledge. It does appear to have the brass worried, though."

"I know why," Maiena said quietly. The others turned to her in surprise. "There is a rare… condition that afflicts certain asari. There are nonetheless many asari that carry latent genes related to this condition. Research shows a strong correlation between harvested individuals with these genes - and the appearance of Banshees. And due to… certain circumstances, Thessia has historically held a greater proportion of asari with these genes."

The team sat in stunned silence as they digested Maiena's words. Banafsheh broke the silence first. "You're saying that we could see a sudden influx of Banshees now? That was always to be expected when the Reapers moved on asari territory, wasn't it?"

"You misunderstand," Maiena said. "About one percent of asari manifest this condition; on the galactic scale about ten percent carry the latent genes. On Thessia, that value is closer to a third of the population. Some estimates place it at nearly forty percent."

"Oh." Banafsheh's eyes widened as she did some calculations in her head. "Oh. That… is not good."

"So the more asari we evacuate, the fewer potential Banshees we have blinking around," said Susan.

"Works for me," said Elijah. "How are we deploying?"

"We're aboard the _Antietam_ for this one," Banafsheh replied. "All heavier vessels are tasked with Reaper engagements. Now, there will be another team aboard. We need to bunch teams together to get them all aboard smaller ships. Unfortunately, the _Antietam_ is still down a shuttle thanks to the events at Edmos. As a team with two N7 graduates, that means you all get to make tandem eezo chute insertions."

Susan groaned as Elijah grinned. He looked over at her quizzically. "What's wrong?"

"I had a bad experience with tandem jumps during training," she said. "What altitude are we jumping from?"

"It's… not exactly low orbit, but it's close," Banafsheh said.

"Oh hell yes!" Lisa said as Susan groaned again.

She looked over at the Infiltrator. "Wait… you're excited about this, but thought our escape from the Edmos station was a bad idea?"

"Well, yeah. That plan was just to throw ourselves into space. If you miss, you're screwed. Here we're throwing ourselves at a planet. It's a lot harder to miss."

"Missing the planet is not the part I'm worried about."

"We leave in two hours," Banafsheh said. "Docking Bay Nine. I recommend getting any new gear you need. Eezo chute familiarization and practice will take place en route to Thessia." She nodded once. "Dismissed."

"So what happened during training?" Elijah asked once they were out in the corridor.

Susan sighed. "My first tandem jump with a teammate, I was the passenger. He botched the landing and I broke my hip."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. " She shrugged. "But that's in the past. It won't affect my performance. Come on, time to visit procurement."

"Don't sound so optimistic," said Lisa.

* * *

With so many operatives already deployed, the procurement center stood mostly empty. Two armorers on duty attended to a handful of soldiers while automated kiosks handled procurement requests. Susan walked up to a terminal and filed her request, mentally steeling herself.

She wasn't disappointed. Or rather, she was disappointed exactly as she'd expected to be. She groaned and rolled her eyes as she reviewed her new authorizations.

"What is it?" Elijah leaned over. He chuckled. "Too bad we don't have a reporter recording."

Susan elbowed him in the ribs playfully. She shot a glare at the screen displaying a Graal Mark Six. "And a shotgun rail mod at that. This is why we're losing," she muttered.

"Not because we're fighting mechanical abominations from beyond time and space intent on our destruction?"

"Don't you display reason while I'm dealing with procurement."

They both jumped as a scream of rage echoed through the chamber followed by a crash. They looked over to see Maiena, glowing with biotic power. She had her fist through the terminal screen in front of her.

"You incompetent bastards!" She hammered the kiosk repeatedly, denting and cracking the exterior. "My homeworld just got conquered and you. Give. Me. Grenade! Storage!"

The asari drew her fist back once more as Susan grabbed her from behind, wrapping her arms around Maiena's as Lisa stepped between her and the screen. Elijah moved to head off the other operatives and armorers approaching.

"Okay, it's okay. Come on, let's get out of here," Susan said as she gently tugged Maiena towards the exit.

Susan released her once they were outside in the corridor. Maiena slumped against the bulkhead and slid down to the deck, quiet sobs racking her frame. Lisa crouched by her left and hugged her as Susan knelt before her. Elijah emerged from the procurement chamber shortly after and joined them. Maiena sobbed as Lisa murmured encouragements in her ear.

Eventually Maiena's sobs slowed and stopped. She looked up and wiped the tears from her face, now set in a mask of determination. Elijah stood and extended a hand to her. "Let's go kill some Reapers," he said.

Susan physically recoiled from Maiena's smile. The best horror vids had never come up with a smile like it. Maiena reached up and grabbed Elijah's hand, allowing him to pull her up.

"Agreed."

* * *

"_Antietam_, come about to heading seven-three mark two-one. _Cannae,_ maintain present course and speed. _Fraternitas_, close it up."

Captain Damon Jones forced the comm chatter from his mind as he watched the tactical display. "Bring us about to heading seven-three mark two-one," he called. "Keep those point-defenses up; enemy fighters ahead!"

The frigate squadrons peeled away from the mass of the Allied fleet towards Thessia. While they did so the dreadnoughts and cruisers forming the fleet's core opened fire at long range. The fleet's approach had been carefully calculated so that the planet itself was offset from the line of fire. Dreadnought main guns hurled rounds over twice as powerful as humanity's earliest nuclear weapons. In the span of a half minute, the three human and six turian dreadnoughts unleashed destruction undreamed of in earlier eras. The combined fire managed to drop the kinetic barriers of one Reaper capital ship. A dozen others surged up from low orbit.

The fleet's fifty cruisers ranged ahead of the dreadnoughts. They formed a dispersed cloud, dancing ahead and retreating whenever Reaper ships turned their attention to any individual cruiser. Railgun shots and torpedoes filled the void between the fleets as the Reapers returned fire with a contemptuous, almost lazy attitude. Cruisers died: one, two, then a third. Reaper destroyers closed the gap and the Allied cruisers retreated, drawing them away from the planet. The dreadnoughts continued trading long range fire with the capital ships, also slowly pulling away from Thessia as the Reapers advanced towards them.

The frigate squadrons and light freighters curved away from the main combat. The orbital space around the planet was littered with debris: wreckage from asari starships, destroyed satellites, and even several Reaper destroyer corpses. Swarms of Oculi-class fighter drones boiled up from the ring of wreckage, the little spherical ships firing directed energy weapons that boiled away at ablative armor. Allied fighters from Systems Alliance and turian squadrons raced forward to engage the Oculi in furious dogfights as the larger ships broke formation, powering for designated insertion points. GARDIAN anti-fighter lasers lanced the surrounding space, clearing room to safely deploy the Special Ops teams.

Inside the _Antietam_'s CIC, Captain Jones looked across to Banafsheh at her station and nodded. "Four minutes." She nodded back and relayed the notice to the shuttle bay as he turned to another crewman. "Landry! Watch that heat buildup! Helm, get ready to slow us down."

* * *

The _Antietam_'s shuttle bay presented a scene of relative calm compared to the CIC. The shuttle was already loaded with one team and extra supplies: thermal clips, medical gear, and food packs. Rizzi's team stood to the left of the shuttle in two pairs. Rizzi and Wu, as N7s, were qualified for eezo chute operation and so had the devices strapped to their backs via harnesses that looped through the legs, waist, chest, and shoulders.

The chutes looked like large gray oval backpacks with a double row of vent slits running down the middle and two small thruster nodules on either side. A pair of swing-out arms attached to the sides held controls. As the qualified operators, Rizzi and Wu also had squad members strapped to their fronts with more harnesses; Marx was attached to Rizzi while K'Thane was strapped to Wu. The passengers had additional gear bags strapped to their fronts, also carrying extra thermal clips, med supplies, and sustenance in anticipation of the longer deployment time. The combined effect reminded Rizzi of an elcor.

"Four minutes!" the deck chief called. "Deck is clear!" He waved the team forward.

Rizzi and Marx shuffled over towards the door. They'd spent over an hour practicing moving together, so the short trip didn't cause any trouble. Rizzi flipped a small hatch on the left arm open and hit the power switch before shutting the hatch securely. That wasn't something to take chances over. The eezo chute powered up with a soft whine and a gentle vibration against her back.

"Remember, if I'm incapacitated for any reason, this button activates the automated mode." She pointed to a large orange button on the left arm.

"Yeah." Marx's voice thrummed with tension – or excitement. Rizzi reached to the left and grabbed the guide bar running to the door as the entire ship trembled. She tried not to think about the desperate battle outside. If the Reapers turned their attention to the smaller ships…

"Two minutes!"

Wu and K'Thane took their positions to Rizzi's left. He turned his faceplate to her. "I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this."

"And I don't enjoy this at all." She turned her head to him. "We're not doing this after the war."

"Oh come on, I'm sure it'll go better this time."

"Is this really the time to plan your honeymoon?" Marx said. They stopped talking and turned forwards.

The bay door cracked open and light flooded in. The thud of distant detonations and the howl of engines echoed through the air. As the door opened further they got their first look at Reaper-occupied Thessia. The _Antietam_ pointed directly towards the planet as it plunged through the upper atmosphere. Verdant green land masses met blue-black oceans ahead of them. With a low roar the shuttle launched out of the bay and curved away. The ground before them continued to draw closer.

"One minute!"

"Okay, wow. That's really far," said Marx.

"And you were all excited for this," Rizzi replied.

The span of the landscape ahead was an idyllic painting marred by blotches of sinister paint. The spread of a supermetropolis dominated the center of their view. Even from their distance they saw the dark patches of destroyed neighborhoods, rubble, and unpowered zones. Rizzi thought of a bullseye at the far end of a target range. _And we're going to be the bullets fired at it_.

"Oh, goddess," K'Thane murmured.

They moved down the open ramp to the edge, right where the artificial gravity ended. Rizzi ran through the eezo chute checks again, double-checking the power systems and the control responses. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The wind screamed as the _Antietam_ cut through the air. Shuttles painted Alliance blue and turian red-white soared past towards the ground.

"Go!"

Rizzi bent her knees and launched herself off the edge of the ramp. Out of the _Antietam_'s artificial gravity, Thessia's gravity seized hold and yanked them towards its surface. The altimeter readout in Rizzi's HUD plummeted as they freefell. Sharp laughter sounded over the comms and she realized it was Wu. The engine pitch behind them changed as the frigate pulled away. She focused on the altitude display.

"Oh crap." She looked around at Marx's comment and saw an Oculus drone buzzing toward them. A turian interceptor swooped past and hammered it out of the sky with streams of laser and cannon fire. Rizzi sent a mental thanks to the pilot as it flew on.

"Landing coordinates uploaded," Banafsheh said as a flashing gold diamond appeared in Rizzi's HUD. The system drew suggested course alterations as slender red lines, and she duly pulsed the eezo chute thrusters to match them. The sound of combat above them faded, leaving her with just the wind whistling by as they hurtled towards the sun-kissed ground. A little timer in the upper right corner of her HUD started counting down from twelve hours. "Good luck, team."

"Copy that. Thanks, Captain." Rizzi kept watching her HUD as they approached the chute deployment altitude. At last they crossed it and she hammered the activation button. They swung from a head-first dive to dropping in more-or-less upright. The vibration against her back doubled in intensity as the eezo generator extended a field around them to reduce their mass and generated a small amount of lift to slow their descent. Immediately the wind forces sent them drifting further; Rizzi used the little control stick in the right arm to steer them gently back on target.

"We're still going really fast!" Marx said.

"Don't worry; it's supposed to be this way."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Stop fidgeting!"

Little dots in the sky signified other shuttles both heading planetside and running for orbit. They were close enough to make out details about the city they fell towards. Asari-designed skyscrapers formed the city core; a dense forest of steel and glass, all smooth curves lunging for the stars. Palatial estates comprised the next ring out, spacious properties conjoined by smooth, arching roads. Further beyond stood a multitude of small, plain buildings, marked by utilitarian roads. From the air, the architecture and even street layouts formed intricate patterns of shapes, colors, and contrasts. Or, they would, if not for the multiple destroyed buildings, raging fires, and dark smoke billowing upwards.

Rizzi watched the diamond overlay. It directed them towards a section of the city core and she frowned. "Is that… are we heading for one of those skyscrapers?"

A moment passed as Wu checked his own HUD. "Yes, I think we are." She heard the frown in his voice.

"That's the Spire of Incarnate Dreams," K'Thane said. "There's a landing pad on the seventy-third floor."

"This is gonna be interesting," Wu said. "Adjusting course." He pulled ahead of Rizzi, angling towards the towering structure in question. She saw it was actually two entwined, twisting towers, like a DNA strand. The tower was dark and several large holes had been blasted in the walls across multiple floors. The blinking gold diamond flashed over a circular balcony extending from the main structure about halfway up.

"Hey," Marx called. "That looks like weapons fire down there." Marx's eye was correct: winks of light danced upon the pad and through the windows inside the floor it jutted out from.

"Copy," said Wu as he kept powering in. "LZ is hot. K'Thane, what are you-"

"Preparing to fight," the asari replied. Rizzi couldn't see what she was doing. She eased forward on the thrusters just a tad more. As they drew closer shapes resolved themselves on the pad. Asari in jumpsuits and armor traded fire with Cannibals and Marauders. Two blue biotic spheres covered the doorway leading into the tower proper. Six asari were spread out across the landing pad, while an equal number of Reaper troops advanced from the doorway, gradually pushing towards the edge.

"Stop fidgeting," Rizzi told Marx as she guided them towards the pad. Wu was already over the outer edge of the pad but still a dozen meters above it. Rizzi gasped once as K'Thane detached from his front and dropped. The commando hadn't gone more than a meter before she glowed biotic blue and drifted down, weapon drawn. She shot the closest Cannibal through the throat before stepping in front of a wounded asari fighter, absorbing incoming shots with her Tech Armor. Wu cut the power to his eezo chute the last meter above the pad, dropping into a crouch.

"Extend your legs out," Rizzi said as they came in for the final approach. Marx jerked as a round spattered off her shields before the asari squad dispatched the offending Marauder. She guided them in the final two meters and they touched down with no more force than stepping off a curb. _That went a lot better than the first time_, Rizzi thought. She hit the quick-release on the harness binding Marx to her as two more Marauders burst through the doors.

Wu finished unbuckling his eezo chute and staggered the Marauders with a Disrupter blast while still kneeling. Marx rolled away from Rizzi, cloaking partway through and reappearing a meter to her left as she pumped bursts from her sidearm into the leftmost Marauder. The harvested turian dropped to the floor, shot multiple times through the face. Still glowing with biotic force, K'Thane tackled the other Marauder and ripped it apart limb from limb. Bereft of tactical leadership, the remaining Cannibals fell swiftly to the combined Allied and asari squads.

* * *

They regrouped outside on the pad after clearing the immediate interior of another five Cannibals. Two asari soldiers tended to the wounded one. Another in fitted maroon carapace plates stepped up to Rizzi's squad, who watched the door to the interior.

"Thanks for the assist," she said. Intricate red war paint swirled a pattern across her face but couldn't hide the exhaustion hanging through. "I'm Section Leader Sareni. Are you… it?"

"For these coordinates, yes," said K'Thane. She stood up and faced the other asari. "Hello, Sareni."

"Maiena? I never expected to see you again." Sareni gave K'Thane a quick embrace.

"I appreciate your confidence. What's your situation here?"

Sareni gestured to the five other asari on the pad. "We've held off intermittent assaults from this tower the last two days. Started with eight, this is it now. We got word to expect reinforcements nine hours ago, with a request for unit locations."

"Why are you holed up here?" Rizzi asked. "You're trapped."

"Not our choice." Sareni shook her head. "There are civilians four floors up trying to hide. We've been keeping the Reapers from getting to them."

"We need to get them ready to move." Rizzi brought up a local map on her omni-tool. "Closest evac location is over five kilometers away."

"Evac?" Rizzi winced at the shock and hurt in Sareni's voice as the other asari turned and frowned.

"We're not staying," K'Thane said. "Thessia is lost for now. We're evacuating everybody we can: there are teams scattered across major urban zones working to link up with squads here and get civilians to preset coordinates."

One of the asari squad stepped forward, her dirty face a mask of anger. "But-" Sareni cut her off with a raised hand.

"We can't gather in large groups," the section leader said. "Every time people have tried, the Reapers show up in force. If not a mass of ground troops, then one of those things themselves."

"Do you have any idea how many there are?"

"No. But there seem to be a lot fewer than right after the invasion. I guess they moved on."

"They are kind of hard to hide," said Marx.

Rizzi shot her a look. "Except when nobody believed they were real."

"Okay, they're kind of hard to hide on a _tactical_ level."

"How many civilians do you have here?" K'Thane asked Sareni, ignoring the humans.

"Twenty. Fourteen adults, six children."

"Any way to contact other squads?"

"Limited to local comms, and low power. Anything high power or long range tends to draw attention."

K'Thane nodded to herself, pacing a few steps back and forth. Rizzi and the others had agreed during the transit to let her take the lead for her homeworld. She stopped and rounded on Sareni.

"We can't stay here. Gather the civilians. Bring food, water, medical supplies. If it isn't absolutely necessary to stay alive, ditch it. We need to be at the evac site in less than twelve hours."

Sareni's eyes widened. "That's not-"

"Much time, I know. So get them moving. Do you have a comm specialist?"

"That's me," said a young asari as she stepped forward. "Apprentice Telan, ma'am."

"Keep a scan for any signals near us. If it's enemy, we avoid it. If it's friendly, we try to link up. I know: no big groups. That's not going to matter once we get closer to the evac sites. We'll just have to fight the Reaper troops off."

"That's impossible, Maiena," said Sareni.

"No, it's duty. Right now there are twenty civilians counting on you. There are a lot more still out there." She gestured over the balcony edge to the ruined city behind. "Get moving. Now."

Sareni hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. She gestured for the rest of her squad. "Gather the civilians and get them ready to move."

K'Thane turned back to the outside view once the asari squad left. She looked out for a long moment before turning back to the doors. "Come on, we should start sweeping downwards to clear the way."

Marx groaned. "I wish the power was still on."

"Why's that?" Rizzi asked as they headed inside, weapons raised.

"We're seventy-three stories up. Do you want to climb down that many stairs?"

"If that's the worst thing that happens this mission, I'm fine with it."


	22. Thessia: Retreat

"Contact rear!"

Marx's warning preceded the burst of gunfire by a split second. The rounds flew past Rizzi and made a further mess of the abandoned skycar a meter to her left. She slid behind a rubble pile that looked like it came from nearby building pieces. Another burst punched divots out of the street to her right. Rizzi raised her head fractionally out of cover and squinted against the setting sun and clouds of dust, looking for their attackers.

She spotted a Marauder in the shadows of a destroyed store front fifty meters away. A trio of Cannibals clambered out of the depths of the store, spraying shots towards the squad spread across the street. Rizzi engaged the Marauder with her biotics while Wu's Disrupter blast slammed into the closest Cannibal. An asari soldier rolled into cover beside Rizzi and fired a long burst from her assault rifle; the trailing Cannibal collapsed in a puddle of blood. Marx put a burst into the middle Cannibal before K'Thane burst its head with a round from her Carnifex.

The noise of the short firefight echoed through the steel canyon formed from city buildings. As the echoes faded and quiet descended Rizzi listened for more enemies while scanning blasted windows and rubble heaps. The avenue, once a posh shopping and dining district, lay still and lifeless except for the canal cutting down the middle, bobbing with debris and the odd body.

"Clear!" Marx called. The soldiers regrouped and headed back towards the civilians they were escorting.

"Ammo check," Wu said. The response was not particularly encouraging.

"Let's try to avoid more engagements," K'Thane said. "Much more of this and we'll need to start scavenging."

"We've been establishing caches and safe houses around," said Sareni.

"That's a last resort. Better if we can stay unnoticed and evacuate quietly."

"You really are set on running away, aren't you?"

Susan gave a mental sigh as the two asari commandos launched into yet another argument. In the ten hours since landing they'd done this a half dozen times. She understood Sareni's position, sympathized with her even. Nobody wanted to admit when their homeworld was a lost cause. Hell, the krogan hadn't given up on Tuchanka, and they'd plunged it into a nuclear winter by themselves. Yet she also recognized that K'Thane was trying to hold onto the long view. The greater war would not be decided upon Thessia.

She headed past the bickering asari towards the civilian refugees the teams escorted. The Special Ops team hadn't interacted with the civilians much, spending most of their time as perimeter escorts. The group had doubled in size during Rizzi's time planetside as they travelled through the city. They'd also linked up with another nine asari soldiers, most of whom stayed close to the civilians. They currently sheltered in the remains of an expansive restaurant, catching a much-needed rest break. Soldiers passed around bottles of water and small nutrient bars while some adults tended to the children.

Susan walked over to one asari girl sitting alone on the remains of a countertop, her arms wrapped around her knees. She didn't look much older than seven. Sitting down by the girl, Susan dug out a small energy bar from her pack and offered it to her.

"Your mask is scary," the asari girl said.

Susan reached up and detached her faceplate. "How's that?"

"Nicer." The girl took the bar and tore into the wrapping with undisguised relish.

"I'm Susan. What's your name?"

"Irila," the girl said around a mouthful of crumbs. She covered her mouth with her hand, chewed for a few seconds, and swallowed. "Sorry, Mother told me don't talk with my mouth full."

Susan smiled. "That's very well-mannered of you. Do you know where your mother is?"

Irila shook her head. "She works on a ship. That's my aunt." She pointed at one of the asari refugees, then looked back at Susan. "Are you here to make the monsters go away?"

"I'm afraid not. I _am_ here to take you away from the monsters though."

"You mean I get to go off-world?" Irila perked up at the thought.

Susan nodded and smiled at the excitement on Irila's young face. She thought back to her own childhood, and the sense of limitless possibilities that space offered. She looked at Irila's unabashed wonder and the devastation around them. _To think she can be so happy in the midst of this_.

Then Irila's face fell again. "Are the monsters trying to stop us?"

Susan hesitated for a moment. "Yes, they are. But I'm not going to let that happen. I can't make all the monsters go away, but I'll get any that come for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Susan stiffened momentarily at Irila's sudden hug. She blinked and then hugged Irila back. A quiet crunch drew her attention and she looked to the blasted doorway to see Elijah leaning against the frame. He held his faceplate by his side and looked at her with an odd little half-smile. She gave him a grin and a shrug and waited for Irila to release her. "I'll be back, okay?"

She walked over to Elijah, faceplate in hand. "What's up?"

He nodded at Irila, who was taking bites out of the bar like a hungry krogan. "I didn't know you were so good with kids."

She shrugged and looked back at the young asari. "I never thought I was. Well, I never really thought about dealing with kids before. Anyway, what's going on?"

"We're getting ready to move again," he said. When Rizzi looked back at him Wu's face had slipped into the sharp visage he assumed when "on mission," like he'd folded up a part of his mental self and stored it away.

"K'Thane and Sareni finish?" She locked her faceplate back on.

"Sareni's not happy, but she knows the stakes."

Behind Wu K'Thane and Sareni moved quickly up the street toward the restaurant. Two other asari followed them from their perimeter posts. Rizzi glanced up at the countdown in her HUD. Less than two hours remained to make it to the evacuation zone, which was still over a kilometer away. Not far in terms of absolute distance or for a small squad of commandos, but a different prospect for a group of forty refugees making their way through a ruined city. A ruined city filled with twisted beasts looking to kill or capture them all.

"Dielli, Luthena!" Sareni called. "Get the civilians ready to move. We don't want to be left behind when that evac comes."

The group arrived at the evacuation zone outskirts just over an hour later, having avoided several packs of roving Cannibals and a Brute. Several teams had been hard at work, converting a mostly intact skycar lot into an impromptu fortress. Carefully placed demolitions collapsed already-damaged buildings to cut off access and create chokepoints. Heavy weapons covered fire lanes and several portable air-defense missile launchers sat atop the wide four story structure.

They heard the evac zone before they saw any of the details. Sporadic machine gun fire echoed through the air. The civilians huddled closer together, millennia of survival instincts kicking in. The asari soldiers ushered them through streets sewn with the corpses of Reaper troops. An alarming number of asari corpses lay mixed in among them.

Turning a corner around what used to be an upscale hotel, the group moved into a wide street that had once been decorated with fountains, landscaping, and sculptures. Now it was decorated with rubble, bullet holes, and corpses. A hundred meters away stood the entrance to the skycar lot. Troops guarded the doorway behind barricades constructed from car skeletons. An Alliance marine stood up and beckoned them forward, though he was barely visible as night crept closer.

The civilians started forward and then started running and screaming as the howls of husks came from behind. "Go!" K'Thane shouted as the team turned around, backing towards the evac zone to form a wall between approaching enemies and the refugees.

"Left!" Marx called. More than a dozen husks charged from the base of a squat dome. Rizzi briefly hoped that the crew-served weapons would hold their fire as she counter-charged the husks alongside Wu and K'Thane. Fortunately they did. The operatives dove into the mass of husks, rending them apart with biotics to conserve ammo. Dismembered husk parts littered the ground soon after. A flicker of movement from the shadows of the dome interior caught Rizzi's eye and she raised her weapon.

"Friendlies! Coming out!" A drell and an asari emerged from the dome, leading another dozen asari in dirty civilian clothes. "Quick, that way!" the drell said, directing the civilians towards the skycar lot. He turned to Rizzi's squad. "Thanks, we came up through the sewers and were trying to think how we'd get past the husks."

"No problem," said Rizzi. "Have you run into any other squads?"

"Not yet. We'll probably see more as we get closer to evac time, though."

Rizzi nodded. "Less than an hour left. We just need to hold out for a little longer."

* * *

Flickers of pseudo-motion heralded the Allied fleet's return to the Parnitha system. Dozens of starships dropped out of FTL behind Janiri, the closest gas giant to Thessia. The fleet split apart: the dreadnoughts and cruisers powering around towards Thessia in combat formation while the frigates and freighters trailed behind from another angle and attempted to remain inconspicuous.

"_Cannae_, we'll take your six," Captain Jones said as they drew closer to the planet. Red light tinted the _Antietam_'s CIC as the crew prepared for combat. The air smelled of sweat and adrenaline. Jones took another look at the tactical readout around Thessia and frowned. "That debris field in orbit is a lot denser than last time."

Banafsheh stepped over to his side and examined the display herself. "We did leave a lot of Oculi corpses when we rolled through."

Jones shook his head. "It's too even. It's almost like… the Reapers rearranged it for coverage."

"They know we're coming," she said, quiet dread lacing through her voice.

"Let's hope that distraction works again."

* * *

"Engage." Admiral Hackett's order sounded through the ships of the line. Railguns and torpedoes let loose, hammering shots towards Reapers in orbit.

The Reapers responded more enthusiastically than before, powering outwards from the planet and returning fire. The Allied formation gradually dispersed as cruisers maneuvered to avoid the long-range shots. The less maneuverable dreadnoughts soaked the shots with their kinetic barriers and slipped in and out of formation to rotate those with less damaged shields forward.

Instead of retreating, the dreadnoughts and cruisers continued surging past Thessia, as if heading for the star. The dreadnoughts launched broadsides while cruisers cut thrusters and used inertia to stay on course while they spun to maintain fire on the Reapers. Capital ships and destroyers pursued the passing fleet.

"There's our window," Captain Jones said. "Head for designated coordinates, maximum thrust."

The flotilla of frigates cut through space, racing for Thessia. They slowed as they approached the dense debris cloud, preparing to navigate through it to a lower orbit so they could safely launch shuttles.

"Control to ground team, repeat this is control to ground team," Banafsheh transmitted on the team's frequency.

"This is ground team!" Rizzi's response came through crackling with static. Banafsheh heard the chatter and roar of weapons fire in the background. The whizzing screech of Ravager shots and a mounted gun's response drowned out all other sounds for a second. "It's good to hear your voice, Captain!"

"What's your situation?"

"We have Reapers coming out the ass!" Marx said.

"We're at the evac zone," Rizzi said. "Under attack." The bark of a sniper rifle underscored her statement. "We have upwards of a thousand asari locals here: estimate two-thirds civilians, one-third troops."

"We're on the way. Hold on down there." Banafsheh looked up at Jones, who was giving orders and not paying any attention to her.

"Keep those scans going. Watch for enemy fighters and-" Jones paused in horror as the tactical readout switched to a higher resolution of the debris with its proximity. "Break off descent! All ships break off!"

Fleet communications lit up with a flurry of panicked reports and cries as the Reaper capital ship emerged through the debris cloud from Thessia's atmosphere. Nearly two kilometers long, it bulled aside the corpse of a destroyer with contemptuous ease as it closed on the frigate pack like a thresher maw on a group of groundcars. It spread its front tendrils with terrible intent.

The turian frigate _Fraternitas_ was the first to open fire. Its cannon shots spattered off the Reaper with no discernible effect. The _Fraternitas_ was also the first to die. A sizzling red beam from the Reaper's middle tendril sliced through its shields and hull with practically no resistance and cored its reactor. _Fraternitas_ burst apart in a spray of shredded hull.

The _SSVs Antietam, Cannae, and Thermopylae_ unleashed their Thanix Cannons. Incandescent blue streams carved furrows out of the Reaper's hull and a rolling shudder wracked it from tendril to stern. Other frigates fired mass accelerators and lobbed volleys of Javelin torpedoes. Still other freighters frantically called for assistance from the heavier fleet elements.

The Reaper recovered from its shudder and flexed its tendrils back into position.

Red beams lanced out. The _Cannae_ died before it could react. _Thermopylae_ managed to fire a second Thanix volley that sparked off the Reaper's tail. The return shot spun it off course before colliding with the remains of an asari orbital station. Another turian frigate disintegrated as a beam raked it from bow to stern. A krogan transport lost its engines, its power, and its crew with one glancing hit. The lifeless ship plummeted through the debris cloud toward Thessia, where it eventually crashed in the ocean.

The _Antietam_ was in the middle of pulling away from the Reaper when a beam caught it amidships. The shot eviscerated the shuttle bay and continued through crew quarters, life support, and several control sections. By fortune the shot carved through _Antietam_ at an angle instead of impacting straight-on; it left the frigate drifting instead of outright vaporizing it. The Reaper soared past the _Antietam_, ignoring the crippled vessel as it powered towards the other ships scattering like a school of fish with a predator in its midst.

Captain Jones pulled himself to his feet painstakingly in the burning CIC. A quick look at the status checks sent a deep pain lancing through him. No shields, no weapons. Hull breaches across multiple decks. No life support. Internal fires. Reactor on the verge of critical failure. He swallowed his bitterness; it tasted like blood. Then he realized it was blood.

Jones reached out and opened a ship-wide transmission. "All hands, this is the captain. Abandon ship, repeat, abandon ship!"

Klaxons sounded, barely visible over the sound of fires and wrenching metal. Jones coughed in the smoke. A hand reached up to the console on his left and he reached out to pull its owner up. Captain Banafsheh looked back at him with a dazed expression, blood running down her face from a gash on her head.

"What about the ground team?!" She had to shout to be audible over the sounds of the dying ship.

"They're on their own! We can't do anything for them now!"

Banafsheh tried her console again before hammering at it in frustration. "We can't even transmit?"

"We can't do anything," Jones replied. "Get to the escape pods! Now!"

She took another look at the wreckage around her, nodded, and ran for the pods with the rest of the crew. Jones turned towards the pilot's station, struggling past debris and areas of zero-g where the artificial gravity had failed. The pilot was already gone, and Jones nodded in approval and silent thanks. He could only ask this of himself.

Jones slipped into the pilot's seat. Breathing was harder as the fires consumed more oxygen. The escape pods were gone. He tapped the controls for engines and cursed as the system responded with an offline warning. "Captain to Engineering," he called in desperation. "Anybody still there?"

"Aguinaldo here, sir."

He frowned. "Martya? What are you still doing here?"

"Looks like I'm helping you with whatever crazy plan you've got," she said. Her voice sounded raspy, wet, and pained. "I'm the only one still alive down here."

"Can you get to an escape pod?"

"Negative sir, I… can't really move."

"Any chance you can get me power to engines?"

A long moment ticked by as Jones watched the carnage outside. This was crazy. Space battles did not happen at this range. The damned Reaper was actually visible – _visible_ – to the eye. It speared red beams into the void. He watched little winks and flashes, knowing they signified the deaths of friendly ships. The range… _so damned close_… He sat up. An idea struck him as Aguinaldo said "Just one sir: not enough for any real speed."

"What about FTL? Can you get me anything for FTL?" he demanded.

"The eezo backups are still online." She coughed. "What good is that gonna do, sir? We're still next to a- oh." The channel went silent for a moment, and then the pilot's panel lit up with a host of new engine options.

"Well done, Martya." Jones started calculating a new course and charging the engines. The range was too short for the damaged sensors to trigger the collision safeguards. "I'm sorry you couldn't get off the ship."

"You needed the help." The pain in her voice came through even harsher. The thrum of engines sounded beneath the crackle of flames. "Sir, it's been an honor."

"The honor was all mine, Martya." Jones finished the course plot. Ready icons flashed across the panel as the ship laboriously realigned towards its new course.

"For Earth, sir?"

"For everybody." Damon Jones reached forward and hit the activation icon.

The _Antietam_ jumped to faster-than-light. Or rather, it attempted to. The frigate reached a velocity of eleven point six percent light speed in the instant before it lanced into the Reaper's midsection from behind. The remains of the _Antietam_ punched through the monster as a molten mass without slowing noticeably and kept going. One day far in the future they would collide with a moon no race had discovered yet.

The Reaper split apart, head and tendrils separating from its stern with opposite directions. The tendrils curled inwards as it died with slow convulsions.

* * *

"Harvester!" Rizzi called as the great winged form soared by overhead, hurling cannon shots towards their defensive position. "Get that AA working!"

The burst of a heavy gun drowned out any response. She swung up and hurled a Throw at a husk clambering over a skycar wreck towards them. The mounted machine gun blurted again and the tracers illuminated what it was shooting at: a pair of Brutes stalking up the ruined street towards them. With power out across the city visibility was a major problem during the night. The teams had considered deploying flares, but decided against it, worried about drawing more attention. _Like we need more Reapers showing up_, Rizzi thought.

Another salvo from the Harvester tore into a rubble pile and threw a soldier from his feet as it circled around for another pass. A pair of missiles lit up the night as they arched after the insectoid behemoth. They plunged into its belly before detonating, showering the streets below with guts and shards of metal. The Harvester spiraled out of the air and ploughed into a nearby hotel with a crash that threw a dust cloud dozens of meters into the air.

"Keep fire on those Brutes!" K'Thane ordered. "Rizzi, Wu, with me. We're clearing that group of Cannibals out!" She beckoned towards the inside of a nearby building; it looked like the shadows crawled. Rizzi and K'Thane sprinted towards the building, vaulting over rubble in their way while Wu launched himself into the building with a Biotic Charge.

Behind them echoed the thunder of a Widow and a Brute's death roar. A Marauder reared up suddenly from a skycar to Rizzi's right and the Widow cracked again. The suddenly headless Marauder dropped. "Got you covered," Marx said.

K'Thane dove through a shattered window into the building, glowing with her biotic aura. Rizzi looked through to locate a clear spot and blinked through the wall. Two Cannibal corpses marked Wu's path, and she hurried to follow up. The sounds of the battle outside dropped in volume but continued unbroken.

"Captain? ETA on evac?" she transmitted. Silence answered. "Ground team to control."

"I got nothing," Wu said. A Cannibal's howl interrupted his transmission, followed by the wet thud of a blade plunging home. "The shuttles should be here any time now."

"I don't like this," Rizzi said as they checked the building. She tried again, flipping through several frequencies. Snippets of panicked transmissions from retreating ships greeted her.

The intensity of the gunfire outside doubled. "Banshees!" one of the mounted gunners called. "Incoming Banshees!"

* * *

The scattered frigate squadrons kept retreating in the pause bought by the _Antietam_'s sacrifice. The lone Reaper had destroyed a quarter of the ships tasked for evacuation in a frighteningly short time. Any thoughts of returning to Thessia faded as sensors reported the Reapers turning away from the distracting dreadnoughts and cruisers. The retreat only grew more panicked as two Reaper destroyers emerged from atmosphere through the debris cloud and commenced pursuit.

Admiral Hackett called a general retreat, his face an implacable mask. The frigates individually jumped to FTL as they cleared the chaos around Thessia. The dreadnoughts and cruisers continued harrying the Reapers, attempting to do as much damage they could. One Reaper destroyer went down to the combined fire of six turian cruisers. The cruisers in turn scattered as a Reaper capital ship slowed and began turning towards them.

At his command post, Hackett turned to his communications officer. "Get me a channel to the ground teams. All of them."

* * *

"Where the hell is that evac?" Marx said as the AA batteries on the roof with her brought down another Harvester. "We're starting to run low on missiles here."

Down on the street Rizzi and Wu leveraged their biotics to maximum effect, triggering blasts to flatten Cannibals and husks. K'Thane directed the efforts of an asari squad manning heavy weapons to hold back Brutes and cut down Ravagers. Infiltrators of different species picked off Marauders as Engineers deployed drones, turrets, and lit the night sky up with bursts of flame and lightning. Cries of the wounded and calls for fire direction underscored the near constant chatter of weapons fire.

As one, all their communicators squealed with a burst of static. "This is Admiral Hackett to all ground teams."

"What the hell?" Rizzi exchanged glances with Wu.

"Evacuation will _not _commence. The fleet must withdraw for now."

Panicked calls and questions sounded over the general comm net.

"These are your standing orders," Hackett continued. "Escape and evade. Go to ground. Continue linking up with asari units and protecting civilians. Keep your comms open, because you are not alone and you are _not_ abandoned. We will return. Stay alive, soldiers. We'll be back for you. Hackett, out."

"What does that mean? Are they leaving us here?!" one operative asked.

"Can it!" Rizzi responded. She shot a husk through the head and processed for a moment. "We can't stay here. Get the civilians ready to move."

"To where?!" a Marine asked. "We're all stuck here now!"

"Yes we are, so get your act together, soldier!" she shouted over the din of battle. "We've drawn too much attention here. We need to scatter back into smaller groups, stay on the move."

"Let's clear this area first," K'Thane said. "Secure it for civilian evac."

"Roger that, ma'am!" the Marine said. "Anders, focus fire on that Brute! White, keep the nades coming!"

* * *

The dreadnoughts continued hammering long-range shots at the Reapers as the cruisers retreated out of range. The Reapers appeared disinclined to pursue heavily, and turned away back towards Thessia. The heavy ships withdrew last, taking turns firing barrages from their primary weapons so the others could swing about ponderously.

The _SSV Shasta_ was last to withdraw. Its sensors blurted once more as it retreated, shields taxed to the limit. Eight massive vessels of unknown configuration, each outmassing a dreadnought, dropped out of FTL around Thessia orbit. The ships descended through the debris and began landing on the asari homeworld. They hadn't participated in the battle, so to the fleet they were just a footnote in a disastrous engagement.

None of the ground teams knew about their arrival at the time. Later, allied analysts would recognize the arrival of the curious bio-mechanical vessels as heralds of a deadly shift in ground battles around the galaxy. At the moment, it was one more detail overlooked by the retreating fleets and the ground teams fighting for their lives.

* * *

With no incoming evacuation the Allied teams redoubled their efforts, pouring munitions into Reaper troops. The press of enemies lessened, and finally died as the last Banshee dissolved into nothingness.

Rizzi turned back to the skycar lot, preparing to help organize a dispersal of the teams. Wu stepped to her side. His dark armor almost blended into the night, but she saw it was liberally coated with Reaper blood.

"Oh, not good." Marx sounded… scared. Rizzi realized that she'd never heard Marx sound exactly like this before. "We need to leave _now_!"

"What's going on?" Rizzi presumed that Marx, stationed on the roof level of the skycar lot, saw something she couldn't.

"There's a Reaper coming!"

"WHAT?!"

It's a long ways off, but it's coming this way!"

"Which direction?"

"Southeast. It's one of the smaller ones."

Rizzi got her bearings. Southeast, that was from the opposite side of the entrance. No wonder she couldn't see it.

"Actually," Marx said after a beat, "the term 'small' is misleading in this case. We need to get the hell out of here!"

Rizzi and Wu ran for the skycar lot. Word of the approaching Reaper spread fast and squads were already gathering what they could in preparation of leaving. Thermal clips, water, food, and medical supplies were top priorities. Asari squads tried to keep the civilians calm.

"Where can we go?" one turian specialist asked another as Rizzi ran past the ruined entrance. "We'd be fodder out in the open!"

She came to a sudden halt at his words. He was right. She hadn't thought past the overwhelming need to just run away from the approaching Reaper. A subtle tremor shook the building. Another followed. They didn't have much time. Where could they go that a hundred and sixty meter tall mechanical monstrosity couldn't follow? She looked down, exhausted. _Down…_

"K'Thane," she said as the thought struck her. "How big are the sewers here?"

The asari commando turned to her; eyes alight with recognition and hope. "This is a wet zone, prone to periodic flooding. There are massive storm drains built into the sewer structure."

Rizzi sagged in relief as another tremor vibrated through the floor. "That dome down the street. There was a team that came through the sewers into it."

K'Thane nodded and turned away. "Sareni! Get the civilians moving. Make for that utility station."

Wu headed off to coordinate the retreat with other operatives as Marx rappelled down the spiraling center of the building.

"Are we leaving yet?" the Infiltrator asked as she ran to one of the thermal clip stashes and dumped a handful into her pack. She looked around to see engineers and Marines planting charges on key points in the structure. "Uh guys, what are you doing?"

"We're gonna blow this place to slow the Reaper down!" one of the engineers replied.

Marx shook her head. "That's going to do exactly _nothing_ to slow that thing down." A stronger tremor shook the walls.

"We've gotta try."

By this time squads were escorting the first civilians out of the skycar lot and towards the dome. Rizzi ran past a pair of quarians dismantling a heavy gun setup. "Forget that!"

"But we might need the firepower later-"

"We need to travel light. Ditch it and help the civilians."

Screams and cries sounded in sync with each approaching tremor as the refugees formed a ragged line between the skycar lot and the dome leading underground. They'd once swung wide of Reaper troop corpses, but with the prospect of an approaching Reaper such squeamishness was easily abandoned.

At last they got the bulk of the refugees underground. The approaching Reaper's footsteps rocked entire buildings and dislodged rubble, forcing people to dodge falling debris. One unfortunate Marine lost his life to a spar of twisted metal that landed like a spear discarded by the heavens.

The Reaper roared. The low pitched blaring drowned out all other noises and hit Rizzi in the gut like a krogan punch. The noise rattled abandoned skycars and knocked several soldiers off their feet. Civilians screamed and ran faster as the squads tried to reassure them and direct them down to the sewers.

The blaring stopped. Rizzi looked back towards the skycar lot. An indistinct dark mass towered behind it, visible despite the distance. A red light flashed and a bass shriek tore through the air. A red beam carved through the buildings of the next street over, sending dust and rubble soaring through the air for over a hundred meters in all directions. The roar of collapsing buildings preceded the shockwave of dust.

"Go!" Rizzi waved the last refugees towards the relative safety of underground. She looked back to the skycar lot. Several teams were still wiring it with demolitions and gathering the last supplies. She opened her mouth to-

The Reaper fired again. Searing red light swept the ground floor and Rizzi shut her eyes and threw her arm up against the intensity. Through the dust, she had the briefest glimpse of fleeing silhouettes caught in that terrible beam before it incinerated them.

The force of the Reaper's weapon detonated the charges. The blast was like an advancing wall of concussive energy and even more dust. It threw Rizzi backwards off her feet with a thunderclap that transcended noise. She must have blacked out, because the next thing she was aware of was Wu's faceplate staring at her with the night sky behind him. She realized he was speaking to her.

"Rizzi! Susan! Please…"

"I'm alright," she said with a cough. She sat up, looked around, and found her pistol half a meter away. She snatched it up, relishing in its comforting weight even though she knew it could do nothing against the juggernaut of destruction that was the approaching Reaper.

Wu helped her to her feet and she looked around. The street was nearly bare of life: almost all the teams had made it the sewer entrance. She saw Marx and K'Thane directing fleeing soldiers down into the dome. Another tremor shook the ground; the force of it nearly threw her from her feet again.

The Reaper blared that terrible noise again. The sound of it was primal, visceral. It defied logic and reason, and sent shock and fear coursing through Rizzi's system. It tapped into her most instinctive fears, and for a moment she couldn't even remember her name or what she was doing. She stood rooted.

"Come on!" K'Thane's yell snapped her out of it. She sprinted for the dome with Wu at her side. They didn't stop once they'd reached the interior, but kept going for the wide spiral ramp descending into the depths. The ramp went much further down than she'd expected. Her adrenaline-fuelled mind registered bare concrete tunnels in their suits' lights that grew taller and wider as they progressed. She heard the sounds of fearful civilians and tense soldiers ahead, while the roar of great volumes of rushing water droned beneath it all.

They rounded a corner and Rizzi saw the mass of people ahead. The tunnel they ran down dwarfed the one they'd emerged from. A platoon could have driven a Mako squadron abreast with room to spare while Hammerheads hovered above them. The floor sloped gently inwards, creating a bank with a small stream in the middle no more than a foot deep. The only light came from weapon- and helmet-mounted lamps and some survival lights distributed among the civilians. Noise echoed strangely in the tunnels, and Rizzi abruptly realized the distinct possibility that they were no safer down here than on the surface. With the complete absence of cover an ambush would be devastating.

Behind them the screeching distortion of the Reaper's weapon sounded again. People cried out as the tunnel shook and the noise of collapsing buildings surged up the tunnel. More dust followed, triggering coughing fits in those without facemasks.

"Guess we're not going back that way," Rizzi said. Not that anyone wanted to. She took several deep breaths, shuddering in the aftermath of their brush with the Reaper. She turned back towards the group of refugees and battered soldiers heading into the deep darkness. "We need to keep moving."

"To do what?" K'Thane said. "We can't take on a Reaper with this." She gestured at the group ahead.

Rizzi shook her head. "To stay alive. That's the only victory we're going to get out of this."


	23. Thessia: Call of the Depths

Susan Rizzi dropped down onto the low bench formed by a concrete step running along the storm drain tunnel next to Lisa Marx with a weary sigh. "How's the food supply looking?"

The Infiltrator shook her head. "It could be worse, but it could be a lot better. It's a good thing we brought some extra supplies coming in, but we really weren't planning on staying this long."

"And nobody knows how much longer we're stuck here," Rizzi said.

"What day is it?" Marx checked her omni-tool. "Day three already?"

"Yeah. Kind of hard to tell down here." Rizzi looked around at the dark tunnel walls, sparsely lit by survival lamps.

"Tell me about it. Anyways, we're actually not that bad off. We're gonna need to make another scavenging run soon, but at least we can _find_ food. I'm more worried about the turians and quarians. I don't think there's much dextro food here."

"What about ammo?"

"That's a bigger problem." Marx scratched her face briefly. She and Rizzi had lived in their armor the last three days but both had their helmets off at the moment. "We burned a lot of thermal clips at the evac zone." Susan sensed the air quotes in that term. "Those are a lot harder to come by. We've got plenty of demo though."

"Not exactly the same thing."

"No. We'll need to raid some of those stashes Sareni mentioned. I don't think she's very eager to let us take those though. They want to use them to retake Thessia."

"I understand the feeling," Rizzi said. "But they must realize that if we don't survive the immediate future, there's not going to _be_ a chance to retake Thessia."

"I'm not the one you need to convince." Marx grinned. "I'll just need to pick my shots carefully for now. I can't just wave my hands and make space magic happen like you guys."

Rizzi nodded. "We should try to make sure every team's got a biotic or tech specialist."

"Little late for that. Did you just get in from topside or something?"

"I was on sentry duty."

"Another six teams just headed out. Took a bunch of civvies with them."

Rizzi nodded. The teams had spent much of the last three days regrouping, but also dividing into smaller groups and separating to maintain ease of movement and stealth. Gathering in large masses was too risky in light of their experience at the evacuation zone. She'd already lost track of who'd gone where. With Thessia's digital infrastructure laid waste and no friendly ships in orbit, communications were limited to purely short-range pulse transmissions.

"We should get going soon as well. Grab Sareni and her squad, the civilians we were with."

"And go where?" Marx said. "This seems as good a place as any."

"We should keep moving. Sooner or later they're going to send patrols down here, if they haven't already."

She broke off as Elijah Wu approached from a group of soldiers, a mix of Special Ops members and asari squads. He went similarly unhelmed and concern lined his face.

"Something happening?" Marx asked.

"One of the asari squads topside just went silent."

"Out of communications range?" Rizzi suggested.

Wu shook his head. "They reported they were under attack right before we lost contact. Not the usual Reaper forces, either."

"Some new type of Reaper troop?"

"Or Cerberus?" Marx said.

"Definitely wasn't human, and I don't think we've ever encountered Reaper and Cerberus forces actually working together."

"What was their last known position?"

"Sevaris Civic Center, about two and a half klicks from here. K'Thane wants to go take a look."

Rizzi and Marx climbed to their feet. "And if it is some new Reaper monstrosity?" Rizzi asked.

"It's just recon," he said. "We're not going to engage anything if we can help it, but we need to know if there is something new running around."

Marx picked up her helmet. "When do we leave?"

* * *

Signs of heavy combat and carnage marked the streets around the civic center. As a local government site asari soldiers and law enforcement had naturally congregated towards it when the Reapers invaded. Once graceful silver spires and buildings had been reduced to so much rubble and wreckage. Destroyed vehicles both military and civilian clogged streets and stuck out of building wrecks where'd they'd crashed.

Rizzi's squad moved quickly and quietly through the ruins, bounding from cover to cover as they checked their surroundings. The quiet disturbed Rizzi after the ferocious fights she'd experienced so far on Thessia. The wind whispered through the ruins, compounding the sense of desolation. She knew that was a trap; a moment's inattention could be lethal.

Sevaris Civic Center looked much like many other buildings on Thessia at the moment: intricately and artfully designed and constructed, plated with shining reflective surfaces, and heavily damaged. Holes from large caliber rounds etched patterns across the ground floors and broken glass covering the ground lay sparkling in the mid-day sun. The civic center entrance lay up a set of blasted marble stairs climbing up a floor. Abandoned riot barricades from law enforcement cut across the concourse at the top of the stairs. The team crept up the stairs quickly in a staggered formation and slipped through gaps between the barricades.

Rizzi frowned at the sight of the concourse. Splashes of blood coated the ground in mottled patterns here and there. She took a closer look at her surroundings. "Some of this blood is pretty fresh. Maybe from our missing squad."

"I have spent thermal clips here," K'Thane announced as she knelt down, inspecting the debris at her feet. "These are relatively new as well."

"The tracks here are a mess," Marx said. "No way to tell who went where." She looked up. "That looks like a fresh blood trail leading inside," she said and pointed near the dark, blasted doorway. "Why do we spend our lives going _into_ the dark creepy places?"

"For the glorious pay, of course." Wu brushed past her and stepped through the wide doorway, weapon raised.

"Did he just crack a joke?" Marx turned her helmet towards Rizzi, who could hear the grin in her voice. "Whatever you're doing with him, keep it up."

"Not now," K'Thane said as she headed in after Wu. She didn't have her Tech Armor active, the better to maximize stealth.

The civic center interior wasn't in any better condition than the outside. The foyer formed an oval with a reception desk in its center, much like the Celeste office. The desk itself stood on its side facing the entrance, multiple bullet holes testifying to its adapted purpose. Empty workstations and computers lined the edge. More blood splatters and thermal clips lay scattered around.

"There's something off about all this," Wu said.

Rizzi looked around the dim room again. "The bodies. Where are the bodies? The amount of blood we've seen, there must have been at least four fatalities."

"We know the Reapers do harvest corpses for… repurposing," K'Thane said. "Let's check a little further inside." She motioned towards the broad hallway leading deeper into the building. Carnifex leading the way, she stepped into the hallway and stopped at the soft crunching noise underfoot. "What's this?"

Rizzi turned her weapon light on to its low setting and shined it at the ground. Small brown insects, about the size of three of her fingers together, coated the floor. They had distinctive dome carapaces and four needle-tipped legs.

Marx recoiled backwards, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps. "No. No, it can't be. He destroyed them. They're gone. They're gone."

The others turned to her. "What is it?" said Rizzi. "What's wrong?"

"Those are Seeker Swarms. They're Collector weapons."

"Collectors?" Rizzi winced at the shock in her voice. "Have you fought them before?"

Marx took a deep breath. "New Canton. We got word that they were hitting colonies and headed out to drive them off. They'd already taken most of the people when we got there."

"What happened?"

"We had a squad of seven, and a Mako. Two of us survived. The Collectors made off with their captives."

"The Collectors are gone," Wu said. "We got definitive evidence that Shepard destroyed them. These things… you know, we got reports that the Reapers deployed some kind of insect swarms against the turians and krogan on Palaven. Maybe that's what this is?"

"So where is the team?" K'Thane said.

Marx sighed. "Between the blood and these things, they're probably gone. Even if there were survivors…" She gestured towards the lifeless Seekers. "The Collectors used these things to neutralize people so they could capture them. Maybe the Reapers are doing the same."

"Wonderful," said Rizzi.

They jumped collectively as their comms snarled with a burst of static and then, "Help us." The message sounded like it came from an asari voice, quiet and frightened.

"Help us," it repeated.

Maiena brought a hand to her left ear. "This is Huntress K'Thane. Please identify yourself and your position."

Wu moved down the hallway, heedless of the Seekers he crushed underfoot. Nothing stirred from within as he checked doorways. He looked back at the others and shook his head once he'd reached the end of the hallway.

"I repeat, please identify yourself and your position," K'Thane said to the silence.

"Help us."

"It's possible they can only transmit messages, not receive them," Rizzi said as she stepped to K'Thane's side. She activated her omni-tool, seeking the directional source of the message.

"Help us."

A vertical orange bar swept across her HUD from left to right and a little blinking icon appeared in her readout. The distance marker claimed it was several kilometers away. She transmitted the results of her omni-tool search to her squad mates and asked "Any idea where that is?"

"No. I don't know this part of the city well." K'Thane examined her omni-tool as the quiet call for help kept repeating. "That will take us even further from the friendly storm drains."

"If it is people who need help…"

"You're right. I don't think we can do anything else here." They turned towards the exit to find Marx collecting thermal clips from the ground and tucking them into her pack.

"Marx," Rizzi said, "are you alright?"

"Yeah. Still on mission."

"Remember, the Collectors are gone," Wu said again as he emerged from the hallway. "We're dealing with Reapers now."

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better." Marx sighed. "Alright, let's go rescue some civilians."

"Stay alert. It sounds like things are getting worse out here."

* * *

The quiet transmission kept repeating at regular intervals as the squad made their way through the ruined city. The noise of gunfire greeted them long before they got close to the transmission source. The chatter of automatic fire echoed down the narrow alley the team traversed. Caught between two towering apartment complexes, they instinctively went for cover behind nearby piles of rubble.

"I can't tell where that's coming from!" Marx called.

Rizzi pushed herself up fractionally and scanned around. "That's not coming at us," she said. The sounds were still distant, not to mention the distinct lack of whizzing bullets and impacts nearby. The sounds echoed off the buildings on all sides though, making them impossible to pinpoint.

"I think that's coming from the transmission source," Wu said. They heard another burst of fire stop abruptly.

"Keep moving," K'Thane said. She swung up and headed for the end of the alley, the squad following her.

Threading through small streets and alleys took longer but they deemed the tradeoff acceptable to reduce their chances of discovery compared to larger avenues and lanes. The tension was like a current in the air after hearing the earlier gunfire. Rizzi slipped along cover whenever she could, expecting enemy contact at any moment.

The gunfire started again when they were less than half a kilometer away from the reported transmission source. It was definitely louder and closer. Rizzi thought she heard at least three distinctive weapons.

Wu paused behind in the shadow of a doorway. "That sounds like a Typhoon," he said. "That's a Spec Ops team fighting."

"We need to go faster," Rizzi said. "Time to use the main streets?"

K'Thane hesitated, then nodded as another burst of fire sounded in the distance. "No choice now."

She led them out of the side street they'd been moving down to a larger avenue. Like many others streets Rizzi had seen on Thessia, a canal ran down the center and decorative landscaping decorated the sidewalks on both sides. Also like the other streets she'd seen, rubble and wrecked vehicles covered most of it.

"This is Lieutenant Wu to any Spec Ops teams," the Vanguard transmitted. "Report your status and position."

Static answered him. Wu repeated his transmission with the same result.

"Jamming?" Rizzi said.

"Or they're-" Wu broke off as they heard more weapons fire. "No, they're still alive."

The squad ran up the street, all thoughts of stealth discarded. Chances were any active Reaper forces nearby were already heading for the ruckus anyways. They headed for the blinking icon in their HUDs, and came to a halt when it led them to a curving steeple topped structure. The blip readout still showed them as a quarter kilometer away. Rizzi looked up at the building sign – some kind of department store, she guessed. Amazingly, the double doors were not only intact but locked.

"Oh come on," Marx said. "What are the chances?"

Rizzi stepped up, drew on her biotics, and launched a straight kick into the door. She stepped away and swallowed a curse. "Ow..."

K'Thane looked at her, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. "I was about to tell you, doors on Thessia are commonly reinforced against things like that. It comes with a heavily biotic population."

"Now I know." Rizzi shook her foot as she glared at the still intact doors. "Any other ideas?"

"No power to bypass," the asari said. K'Thane reached into her pack and drew out a black strip. She placed it over the lock in the center of the doors, where it stuck like a piece of tape.

"Like I said," Marx noted as she moved to the side behind cover, "we've got plenty of demo." Rizzi and Wu stacked up against the wall on the other side of the door as K'Thane joined Marx.

"Fire in the hole," the commando said as she triggered the breaching charge. A short sharp crack and a jet of dust and debris followed as the lock blew out. The gunfire in the distance started again as Wu and K'Thane each grabbed hold of one side of the double door and hauled it open. Rizzi and Marx moved through swiftly into the dark interior, weapons raised. Another exchange of gunfire sounded much closer than before. Rizzi recognized the distinctive _thud-thud-thud_ of a Typhoon ramping up to its full fire rate. She hadn't heard the call for help for several minutes now.

They moved through the ground floor and nearly opened fire at the shadowy figures interspersed around before they realized the forms were not Reaper forces but mannequins draped in asari outfits and accessories. Rizzi stepped over several toppled fashion displays on their way to the other end of the department store. She realized they must have entered the rear of the store; light poured in through a set of ceiling-to-floor windows in front of them.

Beyond the windows sat a large plaza: a multi-tiered open concourse with a fountain over twenty meters across in the center. She saw figures moving on the other side as the sound of more gunfire rolled across them.

She twitched at a sudden tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Wu standing beside her tapping the side of his helmet, where the communication systems were located.

"What is it?" she asked. He didn't respond.

"What about now?" Wu said.

She realized she heard him through her external audio, not the comm system, and switched to external broadcast. "Are the comms down?"

"Yeah, I've tried a few times now."

Maiena turned to them. "We must be in range of whatever's causing the jamming."

"So how did that call for help get through?" Marx said.

"Maybe they activated the jamming in response to those transmissions," Rizzi said. "Doesn't matter; there's a team that needs help out there. Just stay close enough to hear one another." They heard more fighting across the plaza. "Let's move!"

* * *

Sprinting under the rubble-strewn plaza, Rizzi heard the gunfire grow more intense. They took a low approach, using one of the pedestrian underpasses around the fountain to cross the plaza in cover. Heading up the stairs at the end of the underpass, Rizzi emerged once more into the daylight – and into a total mess.

The underpass stairs led up to a semi-circular clearing crowded with ruined skycars. Towering bronze buildings ringed the perimeter thirty meters away, and alien figures sprayed shots down into the plaza from balconies and the ground floors. Rizzi's breath caught in her throat momentarily as she caught sight of torn bodies on the stairs leading up to the center building.

A Systems Alliance Marine lay sprawled at the top of the stairs next to a krogan missing most of his head. She doubted even krogan could survive that. A few steps below them lay a disemboweled drell and a turian with so many holes in his armor it looked like he wasn't wearing any.

"No," she heard Marx say.

Rizzi turned her attention to the attackers. The aliens were bipedal, with bulbous angular heads glowing with four eyes spaced wide in two pairs. She couldn't tell if their dark gray surfaces were suits or their skin. Their feet ended in pairs of claws while double-jointed fingers tipped their hands. Those hands gripped bizarre weapons that had similar color tones and textures as their bodies; they looked more organic than mechanical. The weapons launched hails of rounds with sharp, crackling hisses.

As Rizzi watched, one of the alien warriors on the closest third floor balcony sprouted fluttering wings from its back like an insect and leapt down to the ground. It touched down lightly – and then lost its head as a burst of rounds tore into it. She couldn't see the shooter as she left the underpass stairs.

She felt like she recognized the aliens from somewhere even as several of the warriors turned their weapons on her and she threw herself into cover behind a waist-high retaining wall. She peeked out for another look and suddenly, she recognized them as-

"Collectors!" Marx yelled. The Infiltrator sprinted to cover and vanished as she cloaked. Marx reappeared an instant later as she snapped off a shot that decapitated a Collector warrior leaning over a balcony and sent its corpse plummeting over the edge.

Rizzi swung up and engaged a trio of warriors surging towards them across the ground, flattening the attackers with a combination of biotics. Hissing rounds forced her back into cover as they stripped her barriers and she scuttled along the wall to another spot as the shots chipped away the cover as well.

Wu cleared a balcony on the right with a barrage of Disruptor blasts while K'Thane sprinted across the open towards two crashed skycars. Shots shattered against her Tech Armor as she rolled into cover, hurling biotic attacks against Collectors in sight. Rizzi vaulted the wall and followed K'Thane in a serpentine, blinking course.

"Friendlies coming in!" she heard the asari call. She threw herself against the left car to reassess the battlefield in time to see a Collector stomp down on a fallen geth platform's head, spraying shards across the ground. The Collector staggered backwards as K'Thane's Warp slammed into it. Rizzi's follow-up Throw triggered a blast that smeared limbs and other less identifiable bits for meters around.

A sudden blow to the side of her head stunned Rizzi as a Collector warrior on the other side of the car pounced over and kicked her. It extended a lethal-looking curved blade from its arm as it pursued her. It took a step forward towards her - and jerked back at the neck as if clotheslined. A pair of glowing red omni-blades punched through the Collector's chest from behind and it twitched frantically as it grabbed at the suddenly visible arm around its neck.

"That was for Ishafan," Marx said as she decloaked and gave the omni-blade a savage twist. She shoved the dying creature away and brought her submachine gun up, searching for more targets.

The last visible Collector retreated back from the balcony it stood on and disappeared deeper into the building. Rizzi shook her head to clear her senses and frowned as she got another look at the destroyed geth on the ground before her. Its deep red color looked like Gilbert's. She took several steps towards the geth before a groan from nearby caught her attention.

She stepped quickly around the skycar wrecks and gasped in horror. A soldier in Destroyer armor sat impaled against the wreck, jagged spars of the fuselage protruding through his midsection. She looked over the red stripe pattern running down the dark gray armor and felt her throat catch.

"Michaels?" Rizzi knelt down by the wounded N7, aghast at the scene. A grotesquely swollen form resembling an overgrown husk lay several meters before him. A large-bore cannon had replaced its right arm, and the swollen flesh encasing it still leaked puss.

"Rizzi?" The helmet turned towards her; Leon Michaels didn't look like he should be alive, much less talking. His voice came through as a weak rasp. "You came for… the transmission?"

"Yeah." She moved closer, desperately seeking a way to get him off the spars safely. "Don't talk: save your strength."

"There aren't any civs. The bastards… baited us… The other team was already… down when we got here." Steps sounded nearby but Rizzi ignored them as she continued her search for a way to save Michaels. He coughed once: an ugly wet pop. "Rizzi, I'm done."

"Don't say that!" She blinked away tears even as she knew pulling him off the spikes would only hasten his death.

"Susan, he's right." Elijah's hand touched down gently on her shoulder. "The suit-administered medi-gel is the only reason he hasn't bled out yet."

"Guys, we've got no med support here, and I can't feel my legs," Michaels said. "Please… get the rest of my team out and warn the others. The signals… they're traps."

Rizzi looked up as the others approached. Marx and K'Thane stood a short distance away, covering the buildings as a helmeted turian and a quarian female walked up to Michaels. Both of them sported a host of minor wounds. Both of them also looked familiar…

"Kerranus? Vael?"

"Rizzi?" Kerranus went down on one knee by Michaels' side. "I'd say it's good to see you, but under the circumstances…"

"You all know… each other?" Michaels said. "Good. I'm sure… they'll be back. You have to warn the others."

"We're not leaving you." Even as the words slipped out Rizzi knew it was impossible. She knew she was making calls on a compromised emotional state. At that moment, she didn't care. A warbling buzz sounded from beyond the plaza. Higher pitched buzzing, faint but growing louder, followed.

"They're coming. I don't have long either way. Painkillers going to… wear off soon. Give me my weapon."

Rizzi looked around and saw the Typhoon just out of Michaels' reach. She handed it to him along with a thermal clip from her pouch, knowing what he meant to do.

Michaels tried to chuckle. "Procurement finally issues me a real bloody gun, just in time to meet the reaper. Heh heh, get it?"

"Yeah." Rizzi's vision blurred as the tears ran down her face and she blinked furiously. From the corner of her eye she saw Kerranus give Michaels a classic turian salute, one used to honor a sacrifice for the greater whole.

"Hey Rizzi, who's like us?"

She sniffled at the old toast, remembering the drinks at bars around Rio de Janeiro with fellow N7 trainees. She remembered how they'd all felt untouchable, invincible, ready for anything the galaxy could throw at them.

"Damn few," she said quietly. "And they're all dead."

Michaels let out a stifled groan. "Painkillers… starting to fade. You'd better go. I'll hold them off… long as I can."

"Hey Leon, when you get there, save me a drink." She clasped his upraised hand with hers as the buzzing grew louder.

"Always. Now go."

She heard K'Thane hurling biotics at approaching targets. She gave Michaels one last salute, then turned towards the buildings to assist K'Thane. The asari commando danced near the bottom of the steps, shifting and dodging while her Annihilation Field dissolved swarms of Seekers as they approached. One glance revealed there were too many for her to hold for long. Rizzi sprinted over, activating her own Annihilation Field on the way. She took up position near K'Thane, channeling her biotics to destroy groups of Seekers at a time.

"We need to fall back!" she called as the clouds of Seekers grew denser.

"What about the civilians?" K'Thane said.

"Look around! Do you really think there are any here?!"

K'Thane snarled in frustration and detonated her biotic aura, throwing Seekers back and buying them some room. The buzzing in the air was a constant presence. Deeper droning emerged from within the buildings and they heard faint but heavy footsteps inside. "Alright, back! Use the underpasses for cover!"

The consolidated squads were at the top of the stairs heading down to the underpass when the first Collector troopers poured onto the balconies and leapt down with fluttering wings. Kerranus stitched a trio of rounds across the chest of one midair trooper and its controlled descent turned into an abrupt drop. Vael deployed a small hovering turret off to the side in the hope it would draw some attention. Rizzi noticed the Collectors focused on pursuing the team, and that allowed Michaels to act.

Typhoon fire scythed through the closest Collectors as Rizzi and the others retreated down into the underpass. The gunfire continued as the squad ran through the dark tunnel. An explosion momentarily drowned out the sound of the Typhoon as Rizzi glanced back over her shoulder for pursuit. They'd reached the other end of the underpass and were partway up the stairs when the machine gun fire stopped.

Rizzi bounded up the rest of the stairs and slid behind the defunct fountain. She looked back to the site of the battle, zooming in with her helmet's inbuilt magnifiers. Marx dropped down beside her with a thud and worked her Widow up over the edge.

"What the hell is that?" Rizzi said as she focused in on a giant hovering form approaching the skycar wreck impaling Michaels. It was even larger than the hulking corpse she'd encountered earlier. It had a body that reminded her of a crab – angular and armored with curving gray plates. Four glowing white eye analogues arranged in two pairs, like the other Collectors, glared out of the front of its body. Four mechanical-looking legs sprang from its body like some monstrously oversized bug. Each of them ended in a single sharp point. Gunfire had torn through its front plates, revealing a dozen husk heads hanging together underneath the eyes.

"Praetorian," Marx said. As they watched three small projectiles arched out from Michaels' position and slammed into the floating monstrosity with a triple flash of detonation. The smoke and flame cleared to reveal the Praetorian still on the approach, a shimmering bubble of force encircling it.

Tracers blazed into the Praetorian as it hovered over Michaels. It ignored the shots and lanced out with its forward legs. Rizzi winced as it tore Michaels off the skycar and saw it had impaled him through both shoulders as it lifted him into the air. The Devastator still struggled to bring his weapon into position.

The Praetorian brought Michaels up before its maw. The movement was almost… ceremonial, mocking. Marx disappeared into cloak from her position next to Rizzi. She flashed back into view a second later as she fired her rifle with a thunderous crack.

The shot burst Michaels' head and kept going. It punched deep through the husk heads embedded in the Praetorian and tore into its internal structure. Already severely damaged, the Praetorian released Michaels' headless corpse, dropped from its hover with a crash, and started dissolving in a cloud of blue smoke and light.

Rizzi turned to Marx. "You-"

"That was a mercy, believe me." Marx's voice carried an undercurrent of pain and loss Rizzi had never heard before. "We should go."

Across the plaza two of the lumbering bloated husks shuffled down the stairs, escorted by squads of Collector troopers. Rizzi searched her memory for the name of those things from briefings and threat profiles – Scions. They spread out to either side of the crashed skycars and the Praetorian's corpse.

"Come on!" K'Thane shouted from further back. She'd led the others of the squad towards the department store they'd come from. Rizzi and Marx pushed away from the fountain and sprinted for the store front as the Scions sent their first ranging shots after them. Plumes of steam from short rounds landing in the fountain gushed into the air, while other shots impacting the ground sent chunks of debris flying.

Rizzi dove through a broken window into the store, knocking over a fashion display on her way in. Small caliber rounds hissed after her and punched ragged holes in the shop wall. The Collectors made a staggered advance, some groups going to cover and launching suppressive fire at the allied squad as others pushed forward. She looked around at the store interior and mentally mapped out the layout of surrounding structures she could remember. This side of the plaza was an unbroken wall of buildings.

"We need to blow this building!" she said with sudden conviction.

"What?!" Vael said as she ducked behind a jewelry case. "Why?"

"She's right," K'Thane said. "We can't lead them back to the others! Who's got demo experience?"

Rizzi and Wu spoke up, having gone through several courses during their N7 training. Vael stepped forwards hesitatingly and said, "Uh, I… I guess I can do it." Rizzi raised her eyebrows behind her faceplate but didn't say anything.

"Marx! Give me your demo charges!" K'Thane called. Marx dug into her pack and tossed the charges over. "You and the turian cover the front and keep them off us!"

"My pleasure." Marx and Kerranus took position behind the windows and started placing careful shots.

K'Thane swung her own pack down and pulled out several more of the brown blocky charges. She handed them out as the others gathered around. "A building this size should have five primary supports: look for the thicker pillars. If in doubt… use more explosives."

"Detonation method?" asked Wu.

"Remote primaries, timer secondary and set for three minutes."

K'Thane and Wu moved off towards the rear of the store. Rizzi moved towards the front as Vael ran for the opposite corner. She looked around the building and raised her omni-tool to scan for the building's structural supports. Marx's Widow echoed through the store and in the aftermath of its roar she heard the Infiltrator say, "That was for Lee."

Her scan located one key pillar and she ran over, stripping the adhesive covering off the back of the charge on the way. She stuck the charge to the pillar with a firm slap, inserted a remote detonator into one end, and synced it to the squad's preset frequency. Into the other end she jabbed another detonator and used her omni-tool to set it for a delayed detonation in three minutes.

Kerranus and Marx engaged the Collectors outside from the windows. The Infiltrators cloaked and transferred from window to window between shots, keeping the enemies off-balance. Rizzi ran past them towards another pillar, ducking enemy shots along the way. She heard Marx continue to call out names as she fired at the Collectors.

Rizzi ended her run at a pillar close to Vael. The quarian handled her demolition charge with stiff, unfamiliar movements.

"Okay, so expose the rear adhesive and I stick it to the target," Vael said as she did so. "Now what?" Rizzi glanced over at her in puzzlement and concern. She opened her mouth- "Right, the detonators," Vael continued. She attached the little electronics to the charge. "No, I've never used these before, but the design is just like the Delumcore transmitters we used to use for- never mind, not now."

Rizzi shot Vael another confused look before returning her attention to setting her own demolition charge. She repeated the earlier procedure as the firefight at the windows grew more intense.

"Hurry up!" Kerranus yelled. "There's another one of those big crab things coming!" He leaned out and fired a burst before ducking back behind cover. "I'm out!" He staggered back a moment later as a Scion shot burned into the window frame he sheltered behind. The force of the shot blew through the reinforced steel structure and annihilated Kerranus' shields. It flung the turian to the ground in a shower of dust and molten metal shards.

"Kerranus!" Rizzi ran over to the wrecked window and summoned a warp field around the Scion that had fired the shot. Then she crouched over the turian and dragged him further into the building.

"I'm fine!" he said, and sat up. The spraying shrapnel had scarred the right side of his enclosed helmet; it made Rizzi think of lines of parallel scars. "Got a thermal clip?"

Rizzi handed him one as she pulled him to his feet. "How're those charges coming?" she yelled.

"I'm done here," said Vael.

"We're good!" Wu called from the store's rear. "Time to go!"

"Marx, we're leaving!" Rizzi said.

The Infiltrator decloaked in tune with another rifle shot. "And that was for June!" She hurled a grenade out before rolling away from the window as a storm of return fire hammered her position.

"Come on!" Rizzi gave Marx a tug as the squad ran towards the rear exit of the store. The little timer in her HUD ticked down towards detonation. Behind them, shots from the enemies outside tore through the front of the store. Displays showcasing outfits beyond anything Rizzi could ever afford shredded into tattered strips of fabric. Hissing rounds obliterated jewelry crafted from precious metals and gems across the stars. Bottles containing perfumes designed and mixed using the latest biochemical advances shattered and released scents into the air. Rizzi never smelled them in her armor suit.

The squad sprinted out of the store and partway down the street. They dove behind piles of rubble and abandoned skycars once they'd reached a safe distance. "Fire in the hole!" K'Thane called.

Rizzi didn't see the explosion, sheltering behind a pile of mason and scrap. The building detonated with a low crumping roar that shook the street and sent a shockwave of dust soaring over their position. The spire gave a low groan like some seaborne leviathan and collapsed slowly in on itself. As the ground floors imploded the tall needle tower jolted as it fell and then toppled. To Rizzi's relief it fell towards the plaza instead of the street they sheltered on. The resulting impact made the preceding explosions feel like children's firecrackers.

Vael half-stood from cover and looked over at the remains. "Well, that should take care of that group, right?"

"Hopefully," Marx said. "We should get back and warn the others."

"We should stay off the larger streets this time," Wu said.

"Agreed." K'Thane deactivated her glowing Tech Armor and pointed towards an alley entrance further up the street. "We can also use buildings to throw off pursuit."

"You think they'll still come after us?" Vael said.

"If they're here for the teams," Marx replied, "count on it."

* * *

As the squad navigated through the ruined city Rizzi stayed quiet. The urgency and adrenaline of combat was wearing off and the events of the immediate past started to sink their talons into her. She moved numbly and mechanically as she surveyed her surroundings. Rizzi forced herself to disregard what had just happened and focused on surviving the immediate future. The other teams needed to be warned about the Collectors, and to do that she needed to get back to the storm drains and rendezvous with the larger group.

They sheltered inside an abandoned apartment lobby on the way back to rest and patch up their wounds. Rizzi tore open a packet of nutrient gel and swallowed it without registering the flavor. Marx patched up a furrow in her armor's right thigh plate with an omni-gel application and then looked up. "Okay, where the _hell_ did the _Collectors_ come from?" she said. "They're supposed to be gone!"

"Right… Shepard destroyed them," Wu said. "That trip through the Omega 4 relay."

Kerranus set his Harrier rifle aside. "Vakarian reported that the Collectors were working for the Reapers. Said that Shepard killed some kind of… human-like baby Reaper at their base?"

"Most of the brass didn't believe him." Wu took another mouthful of nutrient gel. "Of course, they didn't think the Reapers were real, and look where we are now."

"Looks like the Reapers had more Collectors in reserve," Kerranus said.

"So why haven't we seen any before now?" Marx replied.

"Maybe they just got here," Wu said.

"What?"

"Alright, so our best guess right now is the Reapers stay in extra-galactic dark space most of the time, right? Maybe some Collectors stayed out there with them, and their ships only just arrived."

"Or they're reserves," Kerranus added. "Maybe… maybe we're doing enough damage that the Reapers needed to call in help."

"That's a nice thought," Marx said. "What do you think, Rizzi?"

There was no response.

"Rizzi? You okay there?"

The others turned to see Rizzi sitting still, hunched over and staring down at her feet. Elijah moved to her side and touched her arm gently. She twitched fractionally and looked up at him.

"What?" she said. "Sorry."

"Susan, are you alright?" Elijah asked gently.

Rizzi rubbed a hand over her grimy face before turning her gaze to Marx. "You killed him," she said. The statement came out more accusingly than she'd intended.

"I've seen what a Praetorian does to somebody when it grabs them like that," Marx replied with a grimace. "I'm sorry, but he was dead, one way or another. I tried to spare him some suffering."

Rizzi nodded, but closed her eyes and turned away.

"No, we lost Gunnery Chief Michaels," Vael said. "We're in an apartment right now on the way back to the others."

The others looked at the quarian in confusion. She looked back, as if suddenly aware that she'd said something aloud she hadn't intended to.

"Who are you talking to?" K'Thane asked.

"Gilbert. You know: the geth."

Kerranus tilted his head. "Maletha, Gilbert's gone too. It was destroyed back there." He shot a quick glance at Rizzi. "Right where Michaels was."

"Its _platform_ was destroyed, yes. Gilbert uploaded its consciousness, I guess you could say its software, into my suit right before that happened."

"I didn't know it could do that," Marx said.

"Me neither." Vael shrugged. "It's a little strange, to be honest. No, it's okay. I did give you permission." She looked back at the team. "Oh, I was talking to Gilbert there."

"Why'd it upload to your suit?" Kerranus asked.

"Because the geth upload themselves back to the collective when a platform takes critical damage," Wu said as he nodded. "And with Thessia's infrastructure down and communications networks offline…"

"My suit was the closest available option," Vael finished.

"And it talks to you?" K'Thane said.

"Yes, through the internal speakers. It actually has access to just about all my suit's systems, I think."

Rizzi shifted. "So that's why it sounded like you were talking to yourself back there in the store."

Vael nodded. "Gilbert was walking me through the process of setting charges."

"Are you both… going to be okay?" Rizzi said.

"I seem to be fine so far. Gilbert had to… well, my suit didn't have enough capacity for all of its memories, so it had to leave some behind. Its basic personality seems intact though." Now it was Vael's turn to tilt her head. "Gilbert says it's sorry about Chief Michaels."

"Thanks, Gilbert." Rizzi frowned. "It _can_ hear me, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad you're still with us, Gilbert."

"It says it feels the same."

K'Thane got to her feet. "I think we've stopped long enough. Let's keep moving."

* * *

The rest of the trip back to the storm drains proved uneventful but no less tense than before. At any moment Rizzi expected to hear the buzz of Seekers or the hissing of their soldiers' weapons. They kept to small streets and abandoned buildings, minimizing their time in the open as much as possible.

Even once they entered the sewers and storm drains they remained on edge. The dark tunnels no longer felt like shelter. Rizzi felt a profound sense of relief when they were challenged by a perimeter sentry. Hurrying back to the main chambers, K'Thane, Wu, and Marx went off to gather teams to brief them about the new threat. Rizzi found a quiet side tunnel, slumped against the wall, and slid down.

Out in the main chamber she heard the assembled squads discussing recent events. She ignored the sounds, leaned her head back, and took her faceplate off. She closed her eyes and felt a single tear roll down her face. She brushed it away angrily as she heard somebody approaching.

"Care for some company?" Felix Kerranus said as he entered the tunnel.

She almost snapped at him to go away. Instead she settled for, "Not briefing the others?"

He shrugged. "Not my area of expertise. I just shoot things."

Rizzi looked at him. He sat down against the tunnel wall opposite her.

"Okay, not exactly true. But that's being handled. So… how are you holding up? Sounded like you and Michaels knew each other from before."

"We were part of the same N7 training group."

"Oh. Were you close?"

"Not particularly. We've always been stationed in different places. Had some drinks together during training, but then, all the trainees do."

Kerranus took his helmet off. In the dim lighting his yellow tattoos practically glowed. "Well, don't take this the wrong way, but you seem really torn up about what happened. Soldiers die."

"I know that!" She rubbed her face for a moment. "I… can't really explain it."

Kerranus nodded. "He was a good soldier."

"Never lacked for confidence." Rizzi smiled sadly. "Even during the toughest parts of training, he was always sure we'd make it through."

"He was like that on missions as well. Willing to take on anything."

"And look where that got him."

"He went down doing his duty. No better way to go."

"I guess that's about the best we can hope for in this war."

Kerranus cocked his head at her. "This is one of those cultural difference things the diplomats are always talking about, huh?"

"Probably. Let me ask you: what would you do if the war were over tomorrow? If we just… woke up and the Reapers were gone?"

He continued looking quizzically at her. "Uh, look for a way off Thessia? And some food. Spirits, we're running low on the dextro stuff."

Susan rolled her eyes. "I don't mean it like that. I mean… if the war were over, what would you rather be doing with your life?"

Kerranus shrugged again. "Rejoin my unit, I suppose. My term of service isn't up yet. Why? What would you do?"

She thought for a moment. "Travel. We've been to so many beautiful places, but we're always there on a mission; always there to bring violence and chaos. And I… I think I'd like to… start a family. We've lost so many in this war."

"That typically takes two, doesn't it? Or do you already have somebody in mind?"

"The way this war is going, do you really think it matters? That I'm going to get that chance?"

He sighed. "No, probably not."

"There you go then."

Kerranus stood up. "Well, I can see I did an excellent job raising your morale. I should go."

She nodded at him.

* * *

Susan sat in the tunnel, head bowed and eyes closed, as the sounds of conversations outside gradually faded. A few minutes later she heard more people approaching. She looked up again; this time it was Marx and Wu, both helmetless. Marx turned to Wu and said something quietly to him. Elijah nodded to her, gave Susan another look, and stepped away.

Lisa moved into the tunnel and sat down opposite Susan, where Kerranus had been. Even in the dim light Susan saw that her eyes were red. She opened her mouth-

"Look, I know you're mad at me," Lisa said first. "And in your place, I probably would be too. Just… lemme say my piece, and I'll leave you alone as you want. Michaels was going to die. If not from the Collectors, then from his injuries. I did what I did to spare him some agony. You think I like it when squad members die? I know they call me 'The Widow.' I know they say I shoot them because I get sick of them. Come on. Don't you know me better than that by now? I don't know how close you were to Michaels. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Susan stared at her for a moment. "Are you finished?"

Lisa visibly braced herself. "Yeah."

"I'm not angry at you."

"You aren't?" Lisa blinked twice.

"No. I've been thinking. You're right, it was a mercy. I was mostly angry about how helpless I felt. You're also right about this: he was going to die, no matter what we did. There's a little too much of that happening these days."

"I know what you mean." Lisa sighed. "On the other hand, isn't that kind of life in general? Everybody dies."

"But it's not the same. It's one thing to die from natural causes. It's another thing to have mechanical abominations from deep space trying to kill you."

"If you say so. I'm not a philosopher. So… are we good?"

"Yes Lisa, we're good."

The Infiltrator pushed herself up. "That's a relief. You're a friend, and I'd like to keep it that way. I won't keep Elijah from you any longer. There's some news you need to hear."

"Lisa," Susan said as the other woman stepped towards the tunnel exit. "I can't imagine how hard it was to pull that trigger. I'm sorry."

Lisa didn't turn around. "I wish I'd had that strength at New Canton." Then she was gone.

A moment later, Elijah entered the tunnel. He sat down beside Susan and wrapped an arm around her. She dropped her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. At this proximity he didn't smell very good after three days of accumulated sweat and grime but then, she supposed, neither did she. She decided she could live with it.

A minute passed in silence before Elijah said, "I'm sorry about Michaels."

Susan let out a long breath. "He wasn't the only casualty back there, and he won't be the last."

"That's true. But it's always harder when it's somebody you know."

"Yeah. Don't worry: I'm still on mission."

"Not what I'm concerned about." Elijah shifted and looked at her.

Susan looked back at him, their faces separated by inches. She reached a hand around to the back of his head and brought their foreheads together gently. Closing her eyes, she whispered, "I know." Another moment passed before she remembered, "Marx said you had news."

"Have you checked your messages?"

"What?"

Elijah nodded to her omni-tool. "It must have come in while we were fighting or running from the Collectors. Tight-beam pulse."

She checked her omni-tool and found a message from Special Ops command. It was brief: a date for evacuation, coordinate lists, and directives to work with remnants of Thessian units to install and activate homing transponders at said coordinates. She looked at the date again.

"That's just two days away."

"According to the asari, the closest coordinates are the remains of the Temple of Athame. Sareni's organizing a group to retrieve transponders from a cache nearby."

"How far is it?"

Elijah sighed. "About seventeen kilometers."

Susan's eyes widened. "What? That doesn't give us much time."

"No it doesn't. Everybody's getting ready to move. The plan is to stick to the storm drains as much as possible and move in smaller parallel groups once we're on the surface."

Susan got up and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. "Okay, getting ready to move."

"Are you going to be okay?" Elijah said as he got up as well.

She wrapped her arms around him for a moment and nodded silently before stepping away towards the end of the tunnel. "We need to restock on thermal clips after that fight. Bring enough food for the civilians, medical supplies too. We need to do something about the Seeker swarms." She paused, thought back to Verdanta. "Keep operatives with some kind of… area denial or flamethrowers near the civilians for protection. See if we can raid hardware stores to make some ourselves, or if the asari have any in their armory caches."

"Good thinking." He moved to her side, businesslike. "We have several vorcha and flamer-equipped geth with us here. I'm a little more concerned about drawing the attention of the Reapers. You saw what that destroyer did."

"Yeah, but we don't have a choice." They walked together towards the main chamber. Susan saw soldiers moving among civilians, getting them ready to move. "We just have to hope we can pull this off quietly enough."

"And once the transmitters are active?"

She stopped. "Oh… crap. I guess we hold off on activating them as long as we can."

Elijah sighed again. "This is going to be a mess."

"This whole war is a mess."

"And it's going to get messier before it gets…" He trailed off.

Susan looked at him with bleak eyes. "You really think it's going to get better?"

Elijah looked around the dark tunnels they stood in. "It's difficult to imagine from where we are now."

She nodded absently. "Come on, let's go figure out how to survive the next two days."


	24. Thessia: Pilgrimage

They travelled underground towards the evacuation coordinates for nearly a day and a half before circumstances forced them to the surface. The storm drain tunnel ended in a cave-in. Slabs of concrete and steel bigger than Rizzi blocked their way forward. Water still flowed underneath it all in a trickle, but they had no idea how far the collapse extended. With no practical way to get through, the forward team turned back and returned up the tunnel.

"We need another way around," Rizzi reported to Sareni.

The section leader sighed as she consulted her map. "There isn't one. Not for a long stretch, anyways. The closest thing… is actually a surface access station we passed about a quarter-kilometer back."

Rizzi cursed quietly. "Looks like we're heading topside. Are the civilians prepared for this?"

"Is anybody?" Sareni shrugged. "They know this is their last chance to get to safe- to get out. And at least they're armed now."

"I'm not sure I'd consider that a good thing. Jumpy civilians are bad enough. Jumpy civilians with assault rifles are worse."

Sareni scowled. "I'm not about to make my people head into danger without any way to defend themselves, Lieutenant."

"If the civilians have to shoot at things, we've failed." Rizzi shook her head. "But it was your decision; I won't argue it. Let's go for that station then."

"Not yet. We've been going for nine hours. The civilians need a rest."

"We have thirteen hours to make it to the coordinates, and still seven kilometers to go."

"It'll take longer if people start collapsing from exhaustion on the way."

Rizzi nodded. "Fine. Fifteen minutes, and we'll pass out some food and water."

"Thank you."

* * *

Rizzi moved among the gathered civilians. She stepped gingerly between groups wielding rifles, as soldiers distributed their dwindling supplies. By now most of the food consisted of cartons and tins of preserved vegetables, cured meats, and various nutrient bars, all scavenged from ruined shops on the surface.

She listened to the tone of conversations without consciously hearing the words. She sensed the nervousness, the fear. Some were angry, still in denial about the invasion and the devastation. Others sounded comforting as they tried to cheer one another up and maintain their mental fortitude. The soldiers sounded equally tense. None had forgotten the last evacuation attempt, and all pondered the implications of the Collectors' entry into the war.

A gentle grasp tugged at her hand and Rizzi looked down to see the Irila by her side. The asari girl extended a chocolate bar. "Are you hungry too?"

Susan smiled down at the girl. "Why don't we split it?"

Irila's smile shined through her grimy face. She tore the wrapping off the bar and broke it in half before handing Susan one piece. She sat down on the spot and Susan joined her. After four and a half days of nearly flavorless nutrient bars and gels, the flavor and sensation of chocolate melting in her mouth made Susan's eyes roll into the back of her head.

"Are we going to space soon?" Irila asked once she finished chewing.

"I certainly hope so."

"Are there more monsters looking for us now? I heard the grown-ups talking about it."

Susan sighed. She considered lying to the child. "Yes, there are. But don't worry; I'll keep them away from you." The words felt hollow to her. She hadn't been able to save Michaels; how could she hope to save Irila?

"I'm scared." Irila looked down at her scuffed shoes.

"So am I."

Irila's gaze snapped back to Susan with wide eyes. "But you're brave. You fight monsters. You can't be scared."

Susan shook her head with a sad smile. "Being brave doesn't mean you're not afraid. It means doing what you know you should even when you _are_ afraid."

She realized her gaze had drifted to Elijah as she spoke; he knelt in a group of other asari children. One of them clambered onto his back with a bright laugh that mocked their surroundings and situation. Despite everything, Susan smiled. As if he'd sensed her gaze Elijah's eyes met hers and he gave her a wry grin.

"Where will we go?" Irila said. "Mother said it's too dangerous for me to be with her."

"I… I don't know. We'll try to get you somewhere safe. Maybe the Citadel?"

"I always wanted to go the Citadel." Irila smiled again, a small little curve of her mouth that made Susan think of elcor-brewed coffee, ruined gowns, and peach pulp. "Have you been there before?"

"Yes."

Irila's eyes lit up. "Is it really like they say? Are there really all kinds of aliens everywhere there? And buildings that stick out into space?"

Susan nodded. "Yes, it's really like that."

"Will you be there if we go to the Citadel?"

"I… probably not. I still need to fight the monsters."

"Can you tell me some more about the Citadel then? While you're here?"

"Sure. Have you ever seen a krogan fall out of a hospital?"

Irila shook her head, another smile on her face.

"Well then, let me tell you about it…"

* * *

Nighttime on Thessia's surface coated the city in darkness barely broken by lights in the distance, where isolated sectors and buildings still had power. The large group of squads and refugees split up once they entered the access station. The squads led civilians up through the spiraling staircases towards the surface in shifts and batches with several minutes in between. They hoped by spreading out they'd avoid drawing Reaper attention.

Rizzi tapped Section Leader Sareni on the shoulder four minutes after the previous team left. Behind her stood a group of nearly thirty asari, Irila one of them. Behind the group stood Marx, Kerranus, Vael, and several of Sareni's surviving squad. She nodded to K'Thane, who stood on the other side of Sareni.

"Move out," K'Thane said softly as she waved forward. She led the way forward with Sareni at her side and Rizzi and Wu at their flanks. The group left the saucer-shaped station and headed up a ruined street towards the evacuation coordinates. In the darkness the civilians huddled together fearfully and kept silent, as if every shadow concealed Banshees and Marauders. Rizzi didn't blame them. After nearly four and a half days in tunnels underground there should have been relief at being on the surface again. But between the Reapers rampaging across the world and Collectors making groups disappear, nobody wanted to be on the surface if they could help it.

Rizzi kept her weapon ready as they walked down the street. She winced internally with every audible footstep and stumble over debris strewn across the street. Drifting over to K'Thane's side, she tapped the commando twice on the shoulder.

"We should scout out farther ahead," Rizzi said quietly. "I'm concerned about the noise this group is making."

K'Thane glanced back at the civilians. They were just indistinct forms in the darkness. "Good thinking. A smaller group could detect trouble before they all stumble across it. You're thinking the three of us?"

"And Marx. She _can_ turn invisible."

"Alright. Grab her and I'll tell Sareni."

The asari leader wasn't happy about it, but recognized the potential danger inherent in moving around with such a group.

Rizzi's squad soon outpaced the larger group. Even in the dark she noticed the streets grew narrower and the buildings denser. More pedestrian walkways joined buildings via graceful curves and arches in the air. Rizzi moved up to an open doorway in a tower base. Her gut instincts whispered cold warnings to her and she motioned for silence.

"What is it?" Wu said as he stacked up against the opposite side of the door from her. Despite using their internal comm systems he spoke quietly.

"There's something about this building that bothers me." Rizzi shook her head. "But I don't know why."

"Allow me," Marx said as she moved up to the doorway. She vanished with a quiet crackle. Rizzi and Wu kept their weapons raised on either side of the doorway. Several minutes later Marx reappeared outside by Rizzi. "It's a nest," she said in a hushed voice.

"A _nest_?"

"Best way I can describe it. There's a bunch of… I don't think sleeping is the right term. There's a bunch of dormant Reaper troops in there: two Marauders, about a dozen Cannibals, and a dozen husks."

"They're dormant?"

"Just laying or sitting still."

"Can we get the civilians past them?" Rizzi asked.

K'Thane joined them and shook her head. "I don't want to risk it."

Rizzi held her Suppressor up. "Let's do this quietly then."

Wu nodded. "Take out the Marauders first. They seem to act as local command and control."

"Follow me then," Marx said. She stepped back through the doorway, Widow slung over her back in favor of her Shuriken within the confines of the building. Rizzi followed a step after her. The building interior was even darker than the night outside. Her helmet's vision systems switched over to night vision. The door led through a short hallway lined with various plaques and awards. Marx paused at the end of the hallway and with quick short gestures indicated four hostiles to the left and six to the right.

Wu drew his sword slowly and signaled to the right with his head. Rizzi nodded and pointed to herself and then to the left. She stepped through into a corridor lined with consoles and yet more plaques. Stepping as carefully as she could, Rizzi moved like a ghost into the remains of what looked like a research lab.

She tensed as she saw the head crest of a Marauder in the center of the room, peeking out from behind a table. A glance around the room revealed two Cannibals and a husk curled up in fetal positions and crammed into gaps between tables and equipment. Keeping her Suppressor trained on the Marauder's head, Rizzi stepped around the table. The Marauder was hunched over in a crouch, its eyes closed and weapon still clutched in its grip. From her new position she saw K'Thane glide into the room from the same door she'd come in from.

"Rizzi, we're in position," Wu said softly.

"Same here."

"Let's take the Marauders at the same time."

"Then prioritize Cannibals over husks?"

"Yes. Ready? On go: three, two, one, go."

Rizzi double-tapped the Marauder and swung her weapon over to the closest Cannibal as the Marauder's head burst with a wet crunch. She squeezed the trigger twice again and pivoted to the last Cannibal. The Suppressor tracked over and she lowered the weapon as she saw K'Thane, aglow with biotic power, tear the Cannibal's head off with her bare hands. A flicker of movement caught her eye and she turned to see the husk stirring. Spindly limbs twitched like a wounded spider. A quick step brought her over the still-prone husk and Rizzi brought her foot down upon its head in a decisive stomp.

"Targets down," Wu said over the comms. "Continuing sweep."

"Copy." Rizzi motioned K'Thane towards the left side exit of the room as she headed for a door on the right. Her Suppressor coughed twice as she shot the Cannibal slumped over in the storage closet.

"Hurry it up," Marx said. "These things are getting twitchy."

Rizzi followed after K'Thane through the left doorway. The trail of carnage left by the asari wasn't difficult to follow. A matter of minutes later, they were done and the squad regrouped outside. Wu still held his blade, its length gleaming with blood in the sparse light.

"Good call on the building," K'Thane said. "I hope there aren't many more like it."

Rizzi wiped off organic remains from her boot on the doorstep. "Here's hoping that evac is real this time."

Marx moved up to Rizzi as Wu and K'Thane roamed ahead in the darkness. "That guy scares me," she said over a private channel as she nodded at the Vanguard. "He's never… hurt you, has he?"

"What? No!"

"Hmm. The way he fights… the way he _kills…_" Marx stared after the departing operatives. "Who'd he lose?"

Rizzi glanced at the Infiltrator, who stood still with her weapon held at her side. She hesitated: this was Wu's own matter. On the other hand, given their situation… "His family."

"All of them?"

"Yes. It's… not really my place to talk about it." Rizzi moved past Marx to follow the others. "You should ask him about it."

Marx followed after Rizzi, moving with practiced stealth. "Maybe not while he's holding that sword."

* * *

Five hours later, the brightening sky revealed the vast lake they travelled beside. Waves lapped quietly at the shore, barely audible against the footsteps of the group. Buildings clustered even more closely together, to the extent that Rizzi didn't think there were any conventional streets for ground vehicles. The squads led refugees through shattered buildings and walkways, ever alert for ambushes.

They'd only encountered two more groups of enemies after the building of dormant troops. Each encounter they'd managed to get the jump on the roving bands and quickly kill them, but Rizzi didn't trust their luck to hold. She was also a little concerned how much effort using her biotics took. After nearly a week of tight rationing her body drew deep on its stores to generate dark energy, and it made her aware of that in no uncertain terms.

As the approaching dawn painted the sky a gentle maroon, she paused on a span bridging two towers and looked out towards the lake. The beauty should have moved her. Once, it would have moved her. Now, she was content that it was one direction enemies probably wouldn't approach from. She turned away and continued towards the next tower. As day approached they'd need to travel through buildings more.

The exhaustion seeped through her bones like an icebox chill. She brought a hand up to rub her eyes before remembering she still wore her faceplate. Rizzi sighed and kept walking. A moment later Wu stood by her side. "You okay?" he said quietly.

Rizzi nodded. "Just tired."

"Yeah, everybody's pretty much running on their last reserves."

"Those of us still going."

Now it was Wu's turn to nod. "Too true. I wonder how many operatives we lost here."

"Too many," Rizzi said. Her mind flashed back to Michaels' death and she opened her mouth to curse the whole mission. Then she thought about Irila's innocent cheer and earnestness and the words died away.

Wu nodded and looked past her towards the lake for a moment. The sounds of the civilians coming drowned out the noise of the waves. "I'd say their sacrifice won't be forgotten-"

"But the way this is going, there's no guarantee."

Wu nodded curtly once as Rizzi kept walking past him. Something about his stance and the set of his shoulders made her glad she couldn't see his face behind the helmet. She didn't look back as the tears flowed silently within her own helm.

* * *

"Friendlies!"

The call resounded through the column comprised of exhausted soldiers and civilians. The midmorning sun glared through the forest of buildings as everybody quickened the pace. Perched on a balcony ahead, two soot-covered asari waved at the group and pointed off towards their right, indicating a cleared bend in the pedestrian road they trod.

"Keep going!" one of the asari yelled down to the group. "There are already a dozen teams gathering at the temple!"

"How much contact with enemy forces have you had?" K'Thane said.

"Intermittent. A lot less than the rest of the city."

K'Thane nodded to the pair as the civilians rushed by, eager to get to the temple. "Are you joining us?"

"Later. Colonel Brishana ordered us to keep watch for more teams."

"Be sure you make the evac."

"Don't worry about us," the other asari soldier called back. "We don't intend to get left behind."

The bend led through a network of small streets to a curving, sloped walkway heading up towards what must have been the temple – or what was left of it. Rizzi rounded the corner and nearly walked into a group of grieving civilians. Finally presented with an open view of the sky, Rizzi saw streaks of light and fire crossing the sky in the distance: wreckage and debris slipping out of orbit as Thessia's gravity pulled them to their fiery doom. She heard quiet sobs and wails as the asari looked upon the ruined temple. She recognized it must have once stood as a pre-eminent example of asari architecture: all curving silhouettes, slender towers, and shining surfaces. A wide circular concourse stood before the entrance, facing the glittering lake.

Something had collapsed the towers, either weapons fire or just a Reaper uncaring of where it stepped. At least the underlying structure looked mostly intact. The ground level entrance to the temple was also miraculously clear. The civilians started rushing towards it, as if they expected to find the goddess Athame herself within. Rizzi stood still and looked at the temple again. She reminded herself that the asari had been spaceborne nearly six-hundred years before the beginning of the human Common Era, and this temple housed many of their oldest artifacts. The thought sent a chill through her, that such an ancient and venerated site might be so casually obliterated.

She shook it off and followed the asari group at a walking pace, looking around to try to judge the defensive possibilities. The temple entrance was only accessible via two large curving ramps, one of which they walked on now. The ramps were easily wide enough to drive a Mako up, if they'd had one. They were also littered with rubble and debris of various sorts. At just a glance Rizzi saw the remains of building pieces, armored vehicles, and even crashed gunships. Civilians streamed around them, heedless of the destruction after so much exposure.

Rizzi frowned. While the ramps looked like natural chokepoints, she'd seen too many husks climb and scale seemingly impassable surfaces to put much stock in them. At least Brutes would probably have to use the ramps. She looked towards the lake and drummed her fingers against her thigh. Did Reapers have any kind of nautical forces? She wasn't familiar with any but then, there'd been too many unpleasant surprises this war.

Something grabbed her left hand. Looking down she saw Irila staring at the temple; the girl looked like she was about to cry.

"The… the temple…"

"Hey now, it'll be okay," Rizzi said as she knelt down. "What's important is that you're still here and healthy. We'll just be here until the shuttles come, and then you'll go to space, alright?"

Irila's face scrunched up. "I'm not allowed to go in. Only very special people can."

"And you _are_ very special," Elijah said as he came up behind Rizzi. "So you get to go inside the temple."

"Really?"

"Really," Susan said. "Come on, I'll walk you there myself."

Still holding Susan's hand, Irila stretched her other hand out towards Elijah expectantly. The Vanguard hesitated for a moment, and then took her hand in his.

"I'm Irila."

"I'm Elijah. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Together the three made their way up the long ramp, the soldiers flanking the asari girl. Several other operatives and squads gave amused looks at the sight, but Rizzi ignored them. She looked over to Elijah; she knew he couldn't see the smile under her faceplate, but she gave it to him anyway.

K'Thane, Marx, and the others were standing in discussion with an asari in a dirty uniform when they reached the concourse before the temple entrance. Soldiers had deployed barricades across the tops of the ramps and before the doorway. Heavy weapons that Rizzi assumed came from their caches stared menacingly out from little towers anchoring the barricades. The doorway leading into the temple itself dwarfed the barricades; Rizzi thought she could fly a gunship through it with room to spare. The uniformed asari beckoned them over.

Rizzi expected Irila would let go and head for the temple, but evidently the girl had taken them seriously about walking her all the way. She clutched their hands as they approached the group. Rizzi noted Kerranus and Vael, along with a batarian wearing the insignia of their Special Intervention Unit. Then she saw the rank bars on the asari's uniform and saluted with her free hand.

"Colonel Brishana, I presume?"

"Correct. I appear to be the ranking officer in this mess." Brishana looked down at Irila. "And what are you doing here, little one?"

"Susan's going to walk me to the temple," Irila said with the self-assuredness of youth.

"Is she now? Then I'll keep this brief." Brishana turned back to Rizzi and Wu. "You have combat experience against the Collectors."

"Yes, ma'am."

"There's quite the shortage of that going around. Alarmingly few survive their first encounters. I need you all to get my soldiers up to speed for fighting Collectors. Threat assessments, tactical advice, anything and everything." A flurry of nods and acknowledgements answered the tired looking colonel. "Any questions?"

"Is evacuation really coming this time?" Vael said.

"I can't give you a certain answer," Brishana replied. "What I can say is that from what we can tell, there are a lot fewer Reaper capital ships around than at the beginning of the invasion."

"Same with Palaven," Kerranus said. "Odd tactics, but I guess they do have an entire galaxy to scour."

"In any case, that should give the fleets a much better chance to punch through." Brishana fell silent for a moment, looking out across the lake and the devastated city. "Any other questions? No? Dismissed, then."

Rizzi turned towards the temple entrance, still holding Irila's hand. "Alright, let's get you to safety for now."

The temple interior wasn't much better than the outside. If anything, it was even worse. Priceless artifacts dating to a time before humanity's earliest cave paintings lay shattered, some on their display pedestals, and others on the ground. The remains of a colossal statue stood in a central position, and Rizzi assumed it had once depicted the goddess Athame.

The temple must have been built over a massive sinkhole or a deliberately excavated pit that boggled the mind; much of the floor had been destroyed in some battle leaving large open gaps around the edges. By unspoken agreement she and Wu steered Irila away from these, keeping between overturned pews as they approached a doorway leading deeper into the temple. An asari civilian standing by the door started moving towards them. Rizzi and Wu removed their faceplates as she drew closer.

"Irila! There you are!"

"Hello, Aunt Jali. This is Susan and this is Elijah."

"Come on now, we shouldn't bother the soldiers. There's food and beds here."

Irila let go of the N7s' hands and stepped across to her aunt. "Thank you," she said, smiling.

"Yes, thank you," Jali said. "I'm sorry if she's been any trouble."

"Not at all," Susan said. "It's been… she's a great kid."

"Thank you again," Jali said as a yawn slipped out of Irila. "For coming here. For everything."

"It's our job, ma'am," Elijah said.

"I'd better get Irila tucked in." Jali nodded to the humans and ushered the yawning girl deeper into the temple. Irila gave them one last wave that Susan returned before she went out of sight.

"Nice kid," Elijah said as Susan stared at the doorway they'd gone through. "Ready to get back into it?" She kept staring at the door. "Susan?"

"What? Huh?" She turned to him. Five days' worth of stubble coated his chin and cheeks. Haggard eyes looked out at her from a drawn face. She supposed she didn't look much better.

"You alright?"

She sighed. "It just occurred to me that if the Crucible doesn't work, this war could go on for a long time. Shepard says the Protheans fought for centuries. Irila… the war against the Reapers might be all that girl ever knows."

"I doubt we'd last that long if the Crucible doesn't work," Elijah said. "There's no way we're winning this without a miracle."

"And what if there isn't one?" Susan closed her eyes. "What if this is all there is?"

"Then this war is all that Irila will know. And the long night of the Reapers sets in." Elijah stepped in and laid a hand on her cheek gently. His gloved and armored fingers were cold and rough; she didn't mind. "But before that, we will rage against the dying of the light with everything we've got, and it _will_ be one hell of a party."

Susan smiled sadly. "Here's to Armageddon, then."

"There you are," Marx said from the direction of the entrance. She stood by one of the ruined artifact displays. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the outside. "Maiena's rounding up asari squads and others who've fought the Collectors. Let's go teach them how to kill some bugs."


	25. Thessia: Evacuation

"This waiting is the worst," Vael said some hours later as she sat down by Kerranus. The squad sat in a rough circle out on the concourse, upon improvised benches made from the remains of skycar doors. One of the homing transponders sat next to the impromptu rest area. Rizzi and Wu shared one of their last packets of nutrient gel while Marx and K'Thane split a packaged bar. Bottles of water lay at their feet. "Two more hours of this? I'm going to go suit-loose at this rate."

"Ugh," Marx said after a bite. She looked at the wrapping and frowned. "Yeah, that is _not_ Grape Caramel." She paused, frowned some more. "Why _is_ there a Grape Caramel flavor?"

"Maybe so you don't know what it tastes like," K'Thane smirked.

"So, what do you mean about the waiting?" Kerranus said to Vael. "Is it worse than being shot at?"

"Well, at least when you're being shot at you know what's happening." Vael sighed. "This… not knowing if there's actually evac coming, or when the Reapers might attack, it's agonizing."

"You get used to it," Kerranus said as he chewed on a protein bar. "The waiting really isn't so bad. It's not one of those things you can control, so you might as well relax while you can."

"Easy for you to say, mister turian hotshot." Vael sneezed, a subdued sound within her environmental suit. "Hey, not so cold."

The others looked blankly at her. "Something wrong, Maletha?" Kerranus asked.

"Huh? Oh! Gilbert's been interfacing with my suit systems. It's been tinkering with some of the environmental controls, to see if it can reduce my energy usage, things like that." Vael cocked her head to the left for a moment. "Yes, that's better. Thank you."

Kerranus stared at Vael with a curious expression. "You're okay with a geth messing with your suit systems?"

"Gilbert means well." She shrugged. "It's already improved my suit efficiency by about fourteen percent. I like the conversations we have, too."

"Huh."

"It's quite nice, actually. Normally I feel so isolated in this suit… now it's like I have somebody to share it with."

"But it's a program. There's no... physical body to actually, uh, do anything with. No offense, Gilbert."

Vael cocked her head again. "None taken, Gilbert says. And maybe one day we'll be able to go without suits on the homeworld, but for now we're all stuck in these, so any company is good." She paused. "Oh, that's interesting. Maybe not while we're in a war zone, but perhaps later?"

"What now?" Kerranus said.

"Gilbert can… interface with my suit to simulate minor infections to stimulate my immune system. The geth can do this for all quarians," she said in a surprised and awed tone. "I… we could be looking at quarians able to go without our suits- in my lifetime!"

"So…" Kerranus cleared his throat. "We could get to see what you look like under that mask?"

Vael nodded as Rizzi glanced across at Kerranus and hid her grin behind a sip of water. "Possibly. Oh, it would be so nice to let my hair free!"

"Quarians have hair?" Marx said.

"Yes. Mine is actually a similar color to yours, Lieutenant Marx."

"Really?" Kerranus said. He looked speculatively at Marx's hair and then back at Vael. Susan exchanged glances with Elijah and didn't bother to hide her grin this time.

"No, we don't have internal visual systems in these suits," Vael said. "I've never had an AI in my suit systems trying to look at me. Tell you what, I'll record an image and upload it to my suit systems the next time we're in a clean room, okay?"

Marx shook her head surreptitiously as Kerranus opened and closed his mouth several times. "You should give a copy to-"

"Husks!" The call went out from a sentry post covering the north approach. The squad grabbed their weapons and rushed for the barricades. Rizzi heard the whine of a heavy machine gun powering up at the closest post.

"Hold fire!" Colonel Brishana called as she ran for the barricades herself from a different direction. "We can't afford to attract attention!"

The colonel made it to the barricades at the same time as Rizzi's squad. Together they clambered up to the elevated platforms and looked out at the ruined city.

"There!" said one of the sentries, pointing. Rizzi clicked her faceplate on and looked at the ruined building the sentry pointed at. An entire half of it was gone, as if a deity's scalpel had sliced it away to reveal a remarkably intact cross-section. Movement within reminded her of maggots crawling through a carcass. She zoomed in: her helmet's distance readout placed the ruin at nearly three-quarters of a kilometer away. She saw them; clambering up walls and ceilings like spiders, pale limbs twitching jerkily as their heads swiveled around.

"Are they… searching for something?" Vael said.

"I don't see any Marauders or other higher Reaper troop forms," Wu said. "Maybe it's a feral pack?"

"Do they do that?" Brishana asked. "Go feral?"

"That's our best term for it," Rizzi said. "Our experience has been that in the absence of other controlling Reaper influences, like Marauders, husks appear to exhibit some instinctive behaviors. They group up in packs and just… roam around, attacking things they come across."

"Do they serve as scouts?"

"We're not sure," Wu said. "There's no consistent pattern we've seen where a husk pack causes other Reaper forces to follow. But I'd rather not put it to the test right now."

"Me neither." Brishana signaled the barricades and sentry posts. "Hold your fire. Engage only if they attack." Everybody on the barricade hunched down lower, hoping the husks wouldn't notice them.

Marx settled her Widow bipod on the barricade and sighted in on the pack of husks. They continued moving around the building. "How many would you say there are?"

Rizzi adjusted her zoom volume several times, trying to find the best overall distance to judge. The way the husks crawled and writhed over each other made it difficult to tell, but- "I'd say about… thirty to forty?"

"Probably more." K'Thane pointed towards the top of the building. "See how the structure originally curved away from us? There's likely a floor there we can't see. And you see how they're moving up and down from there?"

"Yeah. I see what you mean now." Rizzi zoomed in on one husk climbing down a wall headfirst. Its head lolled around seemingly at random and suddenly it looked directly towards her, seemingly making eye contact through the magnified view. She ducked behind the barricade reflexively, even though she knew that it was just in her head, there was no way that-

Marx swore quietly. "They're looking this way."

Rizzi peeked back up over the edge of the barricade. Her blood ran cold as she saw more and more pairs of glowing eyes turn towards their position. As one, the husks started clambering out and down the building. It wasn't hard to guess where they were headed.

"Permission to engage?" Marx said as she adjusted her rifle's position.

"No, hold your fire," Brishana said.

"Ma'am, that would be the husks attacking."

"I know." Brishana signaled the lines again. "Weapons fire as a last resort! Let them close and engage with biotics! Keep this as quiet as you can!"

The husks clambered across the city ruins in a wave of frenzied, emaciated forms. As they clambered and ran out of the building Rizzi saw she had indeed underestimated their numbers. There were more than forty; much more. There were closer to eighty or ninety of the reanimated humanoids charging towards them. She drew a deep breath, thankful she'd gotten the chance to restore some of her energy as she dug within to summon her biotics.

"Watch it!" Marx called. "They're splitting up!"

At least a quarter of the husks split away from the main pack and ran towards the edge of a channel running parallel to the road they followed towards the temple ramp. They dropped out of sight behind the lip; Rizzi guessed it was one of the ubiquitous canals the city streets boasted.

"Oh, blind goddess," Brishana said. "That canal runs up right underneath the temple!"

"Can they get in that way?" Rizzi said.

"Theoretically, no."

"Theoretically, the Reapers shouldn't exist."

"True." Brishana eyed the approaching husks. "We don't have much time."

"We can secure it," Wu said. "Our squad: we slip out, move down that embankment." He pointed off to the side of the ramp. "Cut them off before they get to the temple."

Brishana nodded. "Go."

* * *

Rizzi vaulted over the barricade and hit the ground with a roll. She came up and sprinted towards the edge of the ramp. Shattered glass, metal, and plastic crunched underfoot.

"Oh sure, let's drag the sniper into a close-quarters fight, mister swordsman!" Marx said as she paced Rizzi.

"You could have stayed at the barricade!" K'Thane called back.

"And leave you guys alone?"

They leapt down over the edge of the ramp and half-ran, half-skidded down the embankment. From here Rizzi could see the course of the canal, cutting down seemingly straight towards the temple. She saw movement in the distance, still at least half a kilometer away.

"Check the entrance!" she called and pointed to the nearby end of the canal. She and Wu turned towards it. She racked her brain for some way to seal any entrances: demolitions would be far too loud.

They needn't have worried. Somebody had plowed a gunship into the canal, carving out the last thirty meters and ramming halfway through whatever entrance had once existed to the lower levels of the temple. The tail of the gunship stuck out into the air like a lopsided obelisk. She doubted even a Brute could get through it any reasonable time.

"Looks like we just need to kill some husks then," Wu said as he drew his sword from his back. His voice rang with a fierce joy that sent shivers down Rizzi's back. They joined K'Thane and Marx forward at a crashed skycar.

"Let's pull them up and out here," K'Thane suggested as her Tech Armor encased her in glowing orange panels. They had a good angle looking down the canal, and the pack rushing down the canal resolved themselves into individual husks as they drew closer.

Wu stood in the open and held up his left hand, curled into a claw as he judged the distance. The husks closed. He flicked his palm outward, channeling his barriers into a burst of energy that lanced out and blew the first three husks apart in a tangle of limbs. The others instantly refocused on him, redirecting their charge and clambering out of the canal onto the embankment with remarkable adroitness.

Wu stood still, content to let the husks come to them. Rizzi and K'Thane took positions abreast of him to the left and right, spread out to form a loose line. Marx stood several paces behind them, ready to catch any that got past the trio. The howling of the husks echoed up to them. Rizzi called up her biotic aura with a grunt of effort. Despite her exhaustion she felt the thrill of adrenaline surging through her as she faced down the approaching pack of husks. Here was an enemy she knew she could beat.

Another Phase Disruptor blast from Wu tore into two husks as Rizzi channeled a warp field around the closest one rushing for her. The simple-minded killers fixated on the targets standing calmly before them and split into groups, each rushing one of the assembled soldiers.

The husk rushing for Rizzi tore itself apart at the joints as her channeled warp rent its molecules down. The warp effect leapt to the husk behind it and she hurled a biotic pulse into its face to trigger a blast that tore it apart and flattened the husk next to it. Another Throw triggered another biotic explosion and then the husks swarmed over her. She danced to the left out of the way of the first husk lunging at her. In her adrenaline-fueled state its howling face appeared to disintegrate in slow-motion as the swirling aura around her flayed it through and through.

A quick back shuffle bought her the space to blow back an incoming husk to her left. She heard the sound of the others fighting their own battles: K'Thane's biotics singing in a measured cadence to her dancelike dashes, the crackle of Marx's twinned omni-blade punctuating her snarled curses as she disemboweled a husk, and the little pops of air displacement in sync with the sound of Wu's blade slicing through cybernetic flesh.

Rizzi sidestepped to the left, balancing the press of husks against how many she could catch in her aura to rend them apart. She dropped into a crouch as a husk leapt for her head and hit it with a Throw. The force of the resulting blast threw her backwards and she turned it into a roll, coming up as still more husks piled towards her. She sucked in a hard breath of air, feeling the rapid trembling in her muscles as they protested the efforts of the last week. In her tired state the passing seconds of the furious melee felt like hours as husks fell apart in her Annihilation Field or flew apart in biotic explosions. She stepped around the remains of a husk missing its legs from the knee down, kicking aside the disintegrating hand reaching for her.

She looked over to see Wu tear his blade up and out of a husk's chest through its head. The powered edge of his sword sheared through its head without noticeably slowing, and the husk fell away, top half flopping in opposite directions. He blinked past the collapsing husk to the next one, ending in a lunge with his blade transfixing the husk's skull. Ripping the sword out of its head, he turned into a spinning swing and blinked partway through it to the last husk he faced. He finished the spin coming out of the blink; the blade sheared through the charging husk's neck and its head went soaring. The headless body continued on for several steps before collapsing to the ground.

"Showoff," Marx called from where she stood with dismembered husk corpses around her. She brushed vainly at the sticky husk blood splattered over her. "One of the perks of killing things from range: you don't make a mess of your armor."

"Are we done here?" K'Thane said. Similarly disintegrating husks surrounded her as she let her Annihilation Field fade away. "Let's see if the barricade needs help."

Rizzi took another breath as they climbed up the embankment. Going back up was much harder than heading down. As it turned out, the barricades didn't need help. Husk corpses littered the ramp near the barricades, all ravaged by biotics. Asari soldiers stood up and cheered as they approached. She paused, puzzled. Then she looked back down the embankment and realized they'd been in full view of the barricade during their battle with the husks. Holed up in the ruins of their most sacred site, amongst the ashes of their homeworld, they'd needed the morale boost.

Enthusiastic greetings and compliments heralded their return once they came back through the barricades. Rizzi received praise from two asari about her display of biotic prowess. Nonplussed, she thanked them for the words. Others gathered around K'Thane, impressed by her skill. Rizzi looked over and realized the young commando was rapidly making a name for herself with her exploits in the Special Ops teams. She felt a twinge of jealousy as an even larger group gathered around Wu.

"Hey there," an asari she didn't recognize said to Wu. "Nice work. Are you as good with your sword… in bed? I'd love to find out…"

Wu tilted his head. "Sorry miss, I'm spoken for." Susan felt a warm surge flow through her and she relaxed the fist she hadn't realized she was clenching. She smiled at him through her facemask as he glanced her way, his own expression hidden by his helmet.

"That's a shame," the soldier pouted. "You would have known eternity like never before."

Marx elbowed Rizzi gently. "Wonder who he's talking about, hmm? Must be serious if he's turning down eager asari…"

The cheers and conversations died as a faint wail sounded in the distance, from the depths of the city. Soldiers rushed back to the barricades, many of them muttering, "Banshee."

"Tell me that was a coincidence," Marx said.

Another wail echoed the first. Then another. Another. Another. The Banshee screams echoed and blended together into one long chorus that drove an icy spike through Rizzi's heart. "I don't think that's a coincidence."

"I guess this batch were scouts," Wu said.

"Take positions!" Colonel Brishana called. "Get those heavy guns ready! Sareni, make sure we've got enough ammo for each station! Missile teams to the temple entrance! That's the fallback position! We don't have many so use them only if you have to, but keep them away from the civilians at all costs!"

Special Ops teams joined the asari soldiers at both barricades. The Banshee wails sounded all together once more in unison, forming a crescendo that Rizzi remembered to her dying day. Then they all stopped, with a suddenness that left a pregnant silence. The ratcheting sound of small arms being readied sounded across the barricade, underpinned by the lower metallic _clunks_ of heavy machine guns. Electric whines pierced the air as gunners traversed them back and forth.

"That's a lot of Banshees," Vael said. "If they all come at us at the same time…"

"Then we take as many of them with us as we can," Wu said.

Rizzi checked the thermal clip on her Suppressor and how many spares she had. She thought back to her father's favorite quote about facing doom. "Blow wind, come wrack! At least we'll die with harness on our back!"

Vael looked over at Rizzi like she'd sprouted an extra head. "What?" The quarian cocked her head, listening to something only she could hear. "Thanks, Gilbert." She looked back at Rizzi. "That's not very encouraging."

"This isn't exactly an encouraging situation, Vael."

"I…" Vael trailed off. She turned back towards the ruined city. Rizzi pushed other thoughts out of her mind and thought about the coming storm. _At least the weather's clear_, she thought. _It'd be too cliché for it to be raining during a last stand_.

The seconds and minutes ticked by. The silence after the Banshee chorus felt even more oppressive. It was the knowledge, Rizzi decided. The knowledge of what was out there, and what was coming. She saw Marx stretched out in a prone shooting position and shifted in place to ease some of her sore leg muscles. The wait dragged out, like staring at a faulty reactor ready to detonate at any second.

* * *

The wait broke without fanfare. Flickers of motion marked the appearance of the first Banshees in the cross-sectioned building: one, two, three, four, five of them spread across three floors. Their tall stretched forms remained still except for their heads, which tilted upwards like they were catching scents in the air. The closest Banshee rotated its head slowly and brought its eyes to rest on the barricades. It blinked closer a second later, the other four following in near unison. Grips tightened on weapons across the barricades as soldiers sighted in.

"Watch your ammo!" Brishana shouted. "Time your shots with their jumps!"

The lead Banshee jumped again – and a Widow round lanced towards its head. Marx's first shot shattered off the Banshee's biotic barriers; the strobing field reduced the anti-materiel round to a spray of microscopic fragments the harvested asari ignored. Like the first stream of a shattering dam, the shot heralded the line of allied soldiers opening fire. Sniper and assault rifle rounds slammed into the Banshees an instant before the heavier machine guns drew their bearings. The mounted guns sent streams of high-velocity rounds drilling through the Banshees. The roar of the volleys drowned out all other noises, overwhelming the aural dampening systems of Rizzi's armor. The reports of individual weapons blended into the orchestra of the firing line, and even that was only a series of accompanying cracks to the chattering screeches of the crew-served weapons spitting tracers at the approaching monsters.

The first Banshee died before it reached the five-hundred meter mark from the barricades. The storm of gunfire whittled its barriers to nothing and tore its armored flesh to shreds moments later. The Banshee collapsed slowly and imploded in a cloud of blue light. It had still absorbed more firepower than anything so spindly and fragile-looking had any right to. The four remaining Banshees continued jumping closer in a ragged line as the gunfire split between them.

"Snipers," Marx called. "Staggered Shieldbreaker volleys, far left target! On my shot!"

A flurry of acknowledgements came back at her as the snipers loaded the little coordinator program in their HUDs. One Banshee jump later Marx loosed another shot. A split second later the next marksman to the right of her position fired his shot into the same target. The next instant after that an asari reservist to his right, armed with a Mantis rifle, launched her shot. Then the sniper to her right fired. On it went, a coordinated chain of sniper shots into the leftmost Banshee that wrapped around from the last sniper on the right to the leftmost one in their positions, all the way back to Marx, who'd finished reloading before the final sniper in the sequence fired. Colloquially known as the Shieldbreaker technique among sniper teams, it had been designed by turian sharpshooters as a way for slow-firing sniper rifles to demolish shields and barriers and give them no opportunity to recharge.

Marx's next shot tore through the Banshee's cheek, gouging out a large chunk of its head. Incredibly, it kept coming. Rifle rounds spattered into its chest and another sniper shot lanced in after them. Another pair of sniper shots ripped away most of the Banshee's remaining head and it finally died, keening as it too dissolved.

Heavy machine gun fire bracketed the third Banshee as it blinked towards the left, attempting to juke the streams of shots. The guns paused for a second as their operators reacquired their target. Another three bursts to its torso and the Banshee collapsed in two pieces. The last two Banshees kept jumping closer, finally into practical range of the assembled soldiers' biotics.

Rizzi and K'Thane popped up over the edge of the barricade alongside dozens of others, mostly asari. A hurricane of biotic effects engulfed the Banshees: Warps, Throws, and Reaves predominantly. The last Banshee closed to nearly a hundred meters before succumbing to the blitz of weapons fire and biotics. The soldiers ceased fire as soon as they saw it imploding in biotic sparkles. The silence stretched on as they watched for more approaching Reapers from the city ruins, but none emerged.

"That wasn't so bad," Vael said as they stood up from the barricades.

"That was just a test of our defenses," Rizzi said with a shake of his head. "They'll come again, and they'll have others."

* * *

"You know," Wu said an hour later as he grabbed a Marauder by its throat and shoved his blade through its left eye, "sometimes I hate it when you're right!"

Rizzi's reply was an incoherent snarl as she wrestled the dissolving husk and Cannibal off her and let her biotic aura finish tearing them apart. Twenty meters behind them the heavy machine guns at the barricade fired another burst; the staccato blurt drowned out the warbling roars of the Cannibals and Marauders rushing up the ramp. She launched a Throw that hurled a Cannibal backwards, its spine snapped and shattered. At the same time she brought her other arm up, holding her pistol, and shot an onrushing husk through the head. Another Banshee screech sounded through the air as the echoes of the machine guns faded.

Reaper troops choked the ramps leading to the temple. The past hour had been a series of escalating battles as Banshees scattered around the city gathered entourages of other Reaper forces and launched attack after attack on the Temple of Athame. The barricades still stood, to Rizzi's relief, but were pockmarked and scarred by weapons fire. Rizzi and more than four dozen other close-quarters specialists fought out on the ramp before the barricades. The multiple piles of debris and wreckage formed abundant cover for approaching the temple; it was their responsibility to clear out weaker Reaper troops and allow heavier weapons to focus on bigger threats.

"Look out!" Wu's call came as he tackled her from the right. His lunge carried them both over to the side and they hit the ground rolling as a Brute charged past them like an out-of-control freighter. The Brute plowed through a pile of debris, sending skycar pieces flying and trampling the krogan who'd been kneeling behind it. The krogan pushed himself up to his feet, raised his shotgun, and then jerked once and collapsed again as a Marauder ten meters away shot him.

Rizzi rolled up to one knee and encased the Marauder in a warp field as Wu launched himself into a Biotic Charge and slammed into it. The resulting detonation staggered the Marauder and overloaded its shields. It lost its weapon a second later as Wu swung his sword up in a diagonal arc and lopped off its arm. A downward swing took its leg off at the hip and Rizzi turned away towards the Brute.

She spun around just in time to see K'Thane leap into a flip over the Brute as it swung at her, biotic aura swirling around her and eating away at the hulking monstrosity. She threw a Warp at the apex of her leap while she was inverted, and landed on the opposite side of the Brute as it rocked from the biotic explosion. Faster than it looked, the Brute swung around and lashed out with its claw; the blow sparked off her Tech Armor but still hurled the asari to the ground.

A crackling, frost-rimmed projectile soared into the Brute's side and burst in a directed spray, encasing half the Brute in a coat of rime. It roared and took another step towards K'Thane, the sheen of ice cracking and sloughing off it in sheets as it flexed and shook. A shot lanced into the Brute's head from the side; it was travelling so fast it left a trail of distortion in the air behind it. The round travelled through the Brute's head and out the other side, taking that half of the head with it. The Brute slumped over soundlessly.

"Got you covered, sweetie," Marx said.

"What did I say about calling me that?" K'Thane said as she rolled to her feet.

"You don't seem to mind when I have my tongue-"

"Whoa!" Rizzi said. "Too much information!"

"Gilbert suggests settling this when we aren't fighting Banshees," Vael added as another wail sliced through the air. A pause. "I agree!"

Rizzi ran over to the downed krogan, who'd been well-served by the legendary krogan resilience. He wasn't in any shape to fight, though. "Medic!" she called as she administered a half-dose of precious medi-gel to his gunshot wound.

A trio of asari soldiers ran out from the barricades to the krogan. The lead one threw up a spherical biotic barrier while the other two used their powers to lift the krogan up into a hover and pull him back towards the barricades. Rizzi shot an approaching Marauder twice through the head.

She heard the multiple biotic distorts of a teleporting Banshee and looked further down the ramp. It leapt around in different directions, avoiding bursts of weapons fire and steadily drawing closer to the barricade. Her HUD flickered as it attempted to keep the status overlay over the towering creature. An Overload crackled over the Banshee, tendrils of lightning stripping a major portion of its barriers.

Rizzi channeled a warp field through the Banshee an instant before K'Thane's Warp slammed into it and set off an explosion. The Banshee turned its dead red eyes towards Rizzi and blinked through a metal outcropping, making a beeline for her. Wu's Charge carried him into the corrupted asari and he swung his sword down in a two-handed swing. Foiled by the Banshee's remaining barriers, the blow merely scored a thin line down its forearm. Rizzi's breath caught in her throat as the Banshee turned towards Wu and scooped upwards with its arm – but the Slayer wasn't there anymore. Wu had back-blinked away as soon as he saw how little his swing had done.

"Are you crazy?" she shouted at Wu as he sent a rippling biotic wave at the Banshee. It shrieked at him as it extended an arm and flicked its fingers, as if it were doing nothing more than swatting at a fly. An orb of biotic force emerged and soared towards Wu; he blinked to the side, barely dodging it. The orb curved back around and down, attempting to track its target. The biotic orb sizzled into the ground and churned a square meter of steel and concrete into particles of dust. She realized Wu was laughing.

"Get down!" Kerranus called from the barricades. The squad flung themselves away from the Banshee as volleys of rifle fire tore into it. The Banshee managed another biotic hop before a stream of heavy machine gun fire raked up its torso and tore its upper half to pieces. The weapon fire died down and Rizzi realized that with the exception of several krogan and batarians executing Reaper stragglers, they'd beaten the attack.

Rizzi sagged down to one knee as the adrenaline faded slowly from her system. She breathed hard, sucking in deep gulps of air as she felt the heat bleeding off her biotic implants. K'Thane pushed herself to her feet a dozen meters away from Rizzi. She didn't look much better than Rizzi felt.

"Come on back," Brishana said over the comm. "Rearm and reload: we're not done here."

* * *

Their comms all crackled about half an hour later and then came the announcement Rizzi had doubted would actually happen.

"This is Admiral Hackett to all allied forces on Thessia: we're coming. Activate your homing transponders and hold on. We're coming for you."

A ragged cheer went up from Thessia troops and Special Ops teams alike. With the first real ray of hope shining before them for nearly a week, the soldiers manning the barricades at the battered Temple of Athame redoubled their fire towards Reaper troops approaching from the surrounding ruins. Out on the ramp again, Rizzi felt numb to it all – the blaring of gunfire, cries of the wounded and calls for aid, muzzle flashes that left imprints in the vision. She felt like a machine, methodically calling on her biotics to engage target after target. Husks, Cannibals, Marauders, she lost track. Her muscles screamed with exhaustion where she'd run through the physical mnemonics beyond counting.

The heavy machine gun post at the right end of the barricade line hammered out a steady rhythm of shots. It was already on its seventeenth heavy-duty thermal clip and quickly burning through it. The gun crew had drawn buckets of water from the lake during their setup and had resorted to dropping overheated thermal clips into the water to cool them down faster. The red-hot clips had cooked away four buckets worth of water already.

The machine gun never got to its eighteenth thermal clip. A cannon shot crackling with a pale blue corona sizzled through the biotic sphere encasing the gun and slammed into the heavy plate shielding the crew. Half a second later, a second shot slagged the overworked gun's barrel and fused it to a useless lump of molten metal. The third shot burned through the gun shield and sent molten metal spalling into the asari gunner an instant before the energy-wreathed shot pierced through her chest and threw her backwards off the gun tower. Sightless eyes stared up into the sky out of her charred face. Had she been alive, the gunner would have seen the tiny dots dancing in the sky.

"Where did that come from?!" Rizzi heard the cry from the barricade line. She turned back to the ramp and took down an onrushing husk, only belatedly noticing its angry red glow. Her biotic pulse hurled it back in a tangle of shattered limbs – and the red husk exploded in a burst of flames. She saw a similar husk, churning red and leaking flames, take two rifle shots and detonate mid-run.

"Don't let the red husks get close!" she said. "They're some kind of suicide bomb!"

"Scions!" Marx called. "Tower ruins, second right from the base of the ramp!"

As if angered at being revealed, a quartet of the lumbering hulks opened up with a volley that sent soldiers on the barricades diving for cover and threw some of them off with their armor in smoking ruins. Their operators wary of drawing the attention of the walking artillery platforms, the other two machine guns on the line fell silent.

"Snipers, target the Scions!" Marx ordered. By virtue of her experience fighting the Collectors, the other sharpshooters had agreed to defer to her lead if they encountered the enigmatic enemies. "Alpha and Bravo Teams, sequential takedown starting from the left. Charlie Team, take out the sacs on the backs of the others. And _call it_ if any of them start glowing!"

Precision fire started lancing into the ruins in question and the intensity of the Scion volleys dropped. Rizzi was not in a position to appreciate it, however. She called a warning as bulbous-headed Collector troopers leapt down from buildings at the base of the ramp and charged up. She snarled in frustration as soldiers on both sides maneuvered for position and launched volleys of suppressive fire: the Collectors demonstrated more self-preservation than Reaper forces. At least Cannibals reliably charged straight into prepared guns.

"These things," K'Thane said with a grunt as she wrestled a Collector trooper to the ground in a rear chokehold, "take a lot of killing!" She held the struggling trooper in place as she let her biotic aura dissolve it.

As always for Rizzi, the fury of combat condensed into snippets: moments of clarity in the midst of chaos and anecdotes against the backdrop of battle.

She saw K'Thane knock a Collector Captain prone with a dance-like sweep of her leg. The commando pressed the barrel of her Carnifex into its chest and left a spray of fluid and viscera in a star pattern a meter across from the Captain. She cursed as it swung an arm at her, shoved her weapon into its head, and pulled the trigger twice. The resulting semi-circle of viscous matter splattered even further out.

She saw a vorcha pounce over a wrecked AFV, omni-claws glowing on both arms. Hissing tracers intercepted him in mid-air and he landed as a steaming pile of bloody flesh.

She saw a krogan turn his face away from a grenade as it detonated near him. He hurled an oblong projectile of his own into the group of troopers who'd attacked him. A wave of liquid fire splashed out from where it landed and Collector troopers staggered out of the inferno, twitching and jerking as the burning chemical adhesive washed into their joints. The krogan ended their suffering, if indeed they felt pain, with blasts from his Eviscerator shotgun: One, Two, Three.

She saw Wu parry a Collector's arm-blade and take its arm off at the elbow with his riposte in one fluid move. He kept his grip on the arm, spun close to the next approaching trooper, and plunged the wickedly curved blade up through its throat. The twitching Collector blocked the shots from the trooper behind it; Wu released the arm, extended his hand from underneath its armpit, and destroyed the shooter's head with a Disruptor blast. Then he stepped back and almost like an afterthought, lopped off the still-twitching trooper's head with a backhand swing before blurring away in a Biotic Charge.

She saw the magenta sky and beige concrete of the ground spinning as she rolled on the ground, frantically slapping out flames. One of the volatile red husks had gotten too close to her and exploded as her Annihilation Field flensed it to the molecular level. She cursed her own lapse in vigilance. Curiously, dots and streaks crossed the sky…

She saw the heavy machine guns open fire on a Brute charging up the temple ramp on all fours. For some reason the sight made her think of Toffee, the Alaskan malamute they'd had when she was nine. The dog used to rush for the door at a dead run whenever they came home, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth- The Brute slumped to a halt as the heavy guns tore fist-sized holes out it.

She heard the cry of "Harvester!" as she blinked into a squad of Collector troopers. She landed in a crouch and jabbed down into the ground with an open palm. The mnemonic gesture detonated her Annihilation Field in a radial shockwave that sent heads and limbs flying away from her in all directions. She looked up in time to see the winged Reaper transport soar by – and a stream of cannon fire hammer it from the air. A blue and white blur lanced past, its screaming engines audible even over the din of battle.

She saw a trio of Praetorians floating through the air towards them at the base of the ramp, stately and unhurried. Spherical biotic barriers shrugged off biotic and tech attacks with terrifying impunity while their conventional barriers soaked up gunfire. The leftmost Praetorian paused and unleashed a pair of incandescent beams from its eyes; the hapless batarian it targeted fell apart in wet pieces.

"Fall back! Fall back to the barricades!" Colonel Brishana's order cut through the adrenaline haze of battle. Breathing hard, Rizzi looked around the scene of carnage – and then looked up to see the enormous vessels thundering through the sky towards them. She stared at them as best she could while running for the barricades. Three blocky, rectangular ships that looked more like frying bricks than even the Alliance's Kodiaks powered down towards them on fat, squat thrusters that looked like they could double as weapons. They were all various shades of dirty, streaked red and had inverted trapezoidal cross-sections. Heavy ribbed ramp doors, currently closed, jutted from the bottom half of their prow sections like some angry god had punched them from within and left the imprint of his fist sticking out.

Her inattention nearly cost her life. "Watch it!" K'Thane snapped, returning Rizzi's attention to the approaching Praetorians. She looked back just in time to see the lead center Praetorian lance out with those eye-searing beams. It swept the pair of beams up and out from its position as Rizzi threw herself out of the way behind a pile of rubble. The proximity still burst her barriers and she choked back a cry of pain at the sudden searing heat as the beams swept past her and carved a set of barricades in two. The crab-like monstrosities ignored the volleys of gunfire hammering into them as the last operatives outside ran for the barricades. More Collector troopers advanced behind the cover of the Praetorians as Rizzi reached the closest barricade and threw herself into a biotic blink through it. She landed on the other side in a roll and came back up to see Wu blink through the barricade himself, sword held in a reverse grip. K'Thane dashed through a gap in the barricade line as more particle beams sliced through them and soldiers scrambled out of their lethal path.

A series of thunder cracks split the sky and the Praetorians vanished in a cluster of explosions that threw smoke, dust, and debris twenty meters into the air. Rizzi looked up: the forward ship had maneuvered so its port side squarely faced the ramp. Another series of rippling flashes winked across the length of the ship and more explosions engulfed the Collector troops behind. Cheers sprang out from the embattled soldiers on the ground, then died away as the smoke from the first volley cleared to reveal one Praetorian pushing itself to its feet. Its shell was charred and torn, but it stepped over the dissolving remains of its brethren almost daintily – then convulsed violently and floated upwards a meter as crackling glowing yellow lines snaked across its limbs and body. Its four eyes tinted yellow as its legs gave one final shudder and it turned its gaze upon the barricades with faceless malice.

"Oh, crap." Marx's Widow shot splashed off the glowing Praetorian's barriers, as did the barrage of other weapons as soldiers got back into position. The Praetorian slammed into the ground as a glowing streak lanced into it from above. Two more streaks hammered down, sending out visible shockwaves through the dust as the approaching ship unleashed a broadside into the Praetorian. It took another nine shots before the Praetorian collapsed, two of its legs torn off and the shell of its body holed and twisted beyond recognition.

The sound of weapons fire faded, leaving the approaching roar of the ships. Rizzi looked back up at them. They were close enough now for her to see the thick landing struts extending from the four corners. She tried to get a scale for the vessel sizes and their design origins. The long blocky shapes brought to mind-

"Krogan dropships," Kerranus said. His helmeted face was also turned towards the descending ships. "What are they doing here?"

"I think they're our rides," Wu said. He cocked his head. "That could be a problem…"

Rizzi's tired mind finally figured out the size of the approaching ships and her eyes widened behind her facemask. "Unless those things have shuttles onboard… there's nowhere for them to land."

The pilot of the lead dropship didn't seem to care that his vessel was larger than the concourse he headed towards. It kept plunging towards the surface and for a moment Rizzi was worried that it would just plow straight into them. Looking around, she saw Colonel Brishana speaking frantically into her comm. Retro-thrusters screeched and the dropship shed forward velocity. She frowned; there was nowhere for it to go but…

The dusky red dropship practically dropped the last ten meters into the lake. Up closer, Rizzi saw that it was nearly three stories high. The impact jolted people from their feet and sent a cloud of steam billowing into the air. A small tidal wave lashed out of the lake and sent corpses and debris bobbing away. The other two kept their distance and circled in a holding pattern over a hundred meters up in the air, sending occasional salvoes down into the ruined city.

Rizzi climbed back to her feet. "Okay, that's closer, but not by much."

The lip of the concourse stood over thirty meters above the edge of the water below. She looked back at the entrance of the temple, where asari soldiers were already heading in for the refugees who'd been sheltering in the temple's under levels. How to get the civilians out? The only practical answer appeared to be the large ramps curving down around the edge of the lake. She turned towards the ramp they'd come up to enter the temple from hours earlier; it hadn't seen nearly as much combat, and hopefully provided a better-

Cascading shockwaves threw a wall of dust and gravel into the air. Rizzi reflexively threw an arm up before her face. She gazed at the ramp with horror. Or rather, what was left of it. One of the circling dropships continued raining mass accelerator rounds and rockets down the length of the ramp and into the buildings at the bottom. The deluge of firepower shattered towers, collapsed rooftops, and rendered three square blocks into an impassable wasteland.

"What the hell are they doing?!" Rizzi yelled.

K'Thane brought a hand to her ear, speaking rapidly. She listened, eyes wide, and turned to Rizzi. "Be glad they did that."

"Why?! That was our best way to the dropship!"

"No it wasn't, trust me. You remember all those Banshee screams?"

"We didn't get them all?"

K'Thane laughed weakly. "Not even remotely."

* * *

Colonel Brishana gave clipped orders to her soldiers as they prepared to move the civilians to the dropship sitting at the shore of the lake, its rear half partially submerged. Asari troops unbolted the barricades from the ground and biotically levitated them out and down the ramp. They relocated the barricades to form a corridor running partway down the ramp. Reaper troops were rallying and the sporadic counterattacks were growing in frequency and intensity, something Rizzi knew was happening across the planet. The thought crossed her mind about all the regions the allies _hadn't_ been able to reinforce or evacuate; she pushed it out of her mind as irrelevant to surviving the current moment.

A dozen asari levitated a massive metal plate down the ramp. Rizzi thought it must have come from the temple at some point. The pitted rectangular sheet was nearly five meters wide and over twice as long. The asari crew floated it down the ramp in a biotic field and then maneuvered it out over the edge of the curving temple ramp to the lake. They let the metal plate drop with a _whump_ of displaced air and water, and formed a secondary ramp down to the water and the dropship.

Stationed at the end of the barricade, Rizzi ducked as a burst of gunfire chewed into the angled metal by her head. She rolled away and peeked up, looking for the attacker. Another burst hammered her previous position and she tracked it back to a Marauder firing from a second story window – right as a sniper round popped its head. She switched targets to the charging pack of husks.

A screeching whiz overhead heralded Ravager attacks. A trio of the bloated former rachni took up position on a roof overlooking the temple ramp and managed to loose two shots apiece. A multi-barrel rotary cannon mounted on the lake-borne dropship's port gunwale spun up; it stitched a burst of rounds so dense it looked more like a beam across the assembled Ravagers. The Ravagers popped like soap bubbles while the torrent blasted away the roof – and the floor below it, leaving the ruined building looking remarkably scalped.

Rizzi gaped for a second. "How many guns does that thing _have?_"

"I'm just happy the firepower is on our side for once," Wu said as he placed a Phase Disruptor blast through a shattered window.

"Gilbert says that if it's krogan, we probably haven't seen everything yet," Vael said.

"The first group of civilians is on the way!" Brishana's voice crackled over their comms as her transmission overrode squad level communications. "Keep them safe!"

Panicked screams and cries preceded the civilians' arrival. At least, they would have, had they been audible. By the time the stream of refugees arrived at the top of the ramp the racket of dozens of different weapons drowned out any sounds made by organic throats.

Asari troops in battered light armor escorted the refugees, pacing them and leapfrogging Biotic Spheres to provide as much protection as they could. The Special Ops teams focused on protecting the civilians by killing Reaper troops.

Rizzi found herself beyond the barriers before long, as teams pushed out to create a buffer zone for the evacuation. At one point she was pressed back-to-back with Wu in the middle of a group of Cannibals. She spun her Annihilation Field around herself, dissolving reaching limbs and gnashing faces as Wu plunged his sword into twisted organs. The rotary cannon screamed again. Its rate of fire was so high the individual gunshots were indistinguishable; it sounded more like the whir of a power tool, scaled up and drilling out whole buildings at a time.

She was kneeling behind the remains of an armored vehicle, panting with all her biotics on cooldown, and trading shots with two Marauders directing half a dozen Cannibals when the low background hum of the dropship changed pitch. A rising roar signaled the transport lifting off even as a Marauder's shot went through her weakened barriers and nicked the right cheek of her faceplate. The round ricocheted off and tore a hole through her hood by her ear. She rolled to her right and back up to one knee, drawing a bead on the closer Marauder-

An explosion of light and debris engulfed the Marauders and scattered Cannibal pieces over dozens of meters. The concussive force flattened Rizzi and she shook her head drunkenly as she sat up, brushing a length of intestine off her chest. She looked up at the departing dropship with a mixture of gratitude and exasperation as its under-mounted guns continued blazing away. The shot had certainly been danger close, but it had also handily dealt with that particular pile of Reaper troops.

"First transport away!" Brishana said. "Second ship inbound – brace for impact!"

The world shook again as the second of the circling dropships plowed into the lake- Rizzi couldn't bring herself to call it a landing. She hopped up onto the vehicle carcass as another wave of water surged past. A chorus of Reaper cries sounded from deeper within the city: the warbles of Marauders directing other troops, the angry roars of Brutes, and the piercing screams of Banshees. Rizzi knew with cold certainty the Reaper forces understood their prey was escaping.

"All forces back to the escape corridor!" Brishana ordered. "The second group is on its way!" Rizzi found herself falling back with K'Thane at her side and combined her biotics with the asari's to lethal effect against a pack of husks and Cannibals.

They regrouped at the line of barricades running down the temple ramp. The second group of civilians, strung in a ragged line, ran for the metal plate leading down to the lake under the direction of more soldiers. There were many less than in the first group. Rizzi gritted her teeth as she saw the group's composition and opened a channel to Brishana, who stood at the end of the barricades directing the combat and evacuation simultaneously.

"Why are the _kids_ in the _second_ group? Why weren't they evacuated first?"

"Orders." Brishana's reply was clipped, and equally unhappy. "Corporate executives, civilian leaders, and such were pulled out first."

"And they didn't have room for children?" Wu said calmly. He half-turned and shot a charging Cannibal thirty meters away through the head. "Really?"

Marx took a long step away from him.

"Not my call," Brishana said. "Not what I wanted either, believe me. But the children can't contribute to the war effort."

"They're _kids_," Rizzi said.

Screams sounded throughout the line of refugees as a volley of Scion shots sizzled overhead and splashed off the steaming dropship. Dorsal mounted cannons opened up in response and flattened out buildings. Tracers and streaks lanced out into the post-apocalyptic city and painted it with detonations. The roar and crack of the guns felt like physical shocks to Rizzi in her armor, and she winced at what the civilians must have been experiencing.

"Keep them moving!" Brishana called to the escorting soldiers as various civilians huddled down in response to the firepower the dropship spewed out. Rizzi looked around and blanched; the temple concourse looked empty. All the surviving soldiers were strung across the line of barricades or holding the end against increasing attacks.

"More Collectors," Marx said. She loosed a rifle shot, then cursed and sprinted for the resupply station behind the last barricade section. Rizzi took one last glance at the dropship as it lowered its massive bow door.

She sprinted out past the barricade line for the wasteland of rubble beyond, tagging a Collector Captain with a warp field and throwing herself down under the storm of return fire. She snarled as she saw the Collector soldiers hunker down behind cover and snap off shots while Seeker Swarms buzzed across the killing ground. Meter by meter, the insect-like aliens advanced as their Seekers swarmed over allied soldiers, stinging and distracting.

Something bounced into the ground a meter away from her and she jerked away before recognizing the package. The little flash-manufactured turret flipped over and hovered up a meter and a half into the air. It floated in place like an oblong disc with a miniature barrel protruding from the end. The turret spun around once, scanning for targets, and then fired a shot at a Collector trooper vaulting over a skycar wreck. A second later it launched a small rocket that streaked out and took off its right arm at the shoulder. Rizzi popped up and knocked its head off with a Throw.

"Oops, I meant to throw that a little farther," Vael said.

"I don't mind," Rizzi replied. The little turret fired another rocket. _At least somebody's putting micro-rocket manufacturing training to use_, she thought.

A Scion shot burned into the ground near her and she blinked away two meters to her left, sprinting for more cover. The dropship hammered more shots into the desolate buildings around, seeking the Scion. After its firepower had reduced the first three to scraps of organic residue smeared across the ground, the Collectors had taken to moving and hiding each Scion after firing single shots.

"Friendlies coming in!" a low-pitched shout came as she tried to locate the Scion. Another shot crackled overhead and she saw a glimpse of movement in the shadows of a half-collapsed tower. Heavy steps thudded down near her. Rizzi turned, her eyes widening as she saw the line of five krogan in battered heavy armor. They hefted massive slab-like shields as tall as them that looked like they had begun life as tank armor. Shimmering kinetic barriers danced across the surface, deflecting prodigious quantities of fire. Ports cut out of the shields allowed the krogan to fire out with shotguns of various models. Four armored turians wearing marksmen's visors followed close behind, using the shield wall as cover as they peeked out to snap off shots from their worn-looking Raptor rifles.

One of them beckoned to Rizzi. "Fall back to the dropship! We can't hold this position long!" As if reinforcing his words, a Scion round smashed into the leftmost shield. It burst the kinetic barriers with a crack and added a fresh burn scar to its battered surface. The krogan wielding it fell back a step as the others shifted to cover him while the shield recharged. She shook her head as they broke out laughing, like they were swapping stories at a bar.

Rizzi took the opportunity to retreat as the turian sharpshooters hammered out suppressive volleys. The Collectors stayed hunkered down behind cover which limited what she could do with biotics, but she found herself grateful for the reprieve as she felt her implants throbbing with overuse. She fell back to the barricade line and grimaced at how many operatives lay sprawled in the wasteland, motionless.

The civilians had finally all gotten down the metal ramp- and were mired down in the mud churned up by the dropships and the treading of the first group. "Get to the ship!" Brishana called. Asari soldiers and Special Ops teams retreated from the barricades and backed away down the metal ramp. The krogan shield line was last down; they held position at the head of the ramp as the dropship hammered rounds over and past them.

Rizzi pulled her foot out of the steaming mud that sucked at it. The water was a churned gray mess, and she was thankful they hadn't been fighting in the lake as they closed with the last civilians struggling for the dropship. Three asari children struggled in the mud and muck, the thigh-high water for Rizzi proving a greater obstacle for the shorter kids. Adult civilians struggled to pull them through, but many of them were panicking and near-catatonic in the midst of the desperate fight.

"Come on!" Rizzi waded over to the nearest asari girl and scooped her up with one arm.

"Susan!" Irila clasped her arms around Rizzi's neck. Her eyes were wide and frightened in her mud-stained face.

"Close your eyes, sweetie!"

Wu sheathed his sword and picked up the second child as K'Thane deactivated her Tech Armor and swooped up the third. They waded for the cavernous mouth of the dropship, rounds thudding overhead all the while. Marx kept pace with them; rifle sweeping over the ruined buildings as they finally reached the dropship's open ramp. The shield bearers backed towards the ship, fending off shots the whole way.

Rizzi carried Irila up the textured, heavily reinforced ramp. It led to a deep chamber nearly two stories tall and heavily armored on the inside. Civilians and soldiers alike crowded the assault chamber and she kept her grip on Irila, fearful of the crush. Two hatches on opposite sides at the rear of the chamber led deeper within the ship and a human and salarian tried to direct people in to clear space in the chamber. The chatter of civilians, cries of the wounded, and roars of the dropship's weapons drowned out their shouted instructions. The ramp closed with a mechanical whirr that ended in a resounding thud, plunging them into darkness. Overhead lights snapped on a second later as the roar of the engines and surge of inertial dampeners started.

"Irila! Irila, where are you?!" Rizzi picked the call out amidst the continuing chatter as she heard more and more explanations of relief and joy. She found Irila's aunt Jali moving through the crowd and set the girl down. "Oh you're safe, praise the goddess! Thank you, thank you!"

"It's my pleasure, really." Rizzi nodded as Irila hugged her legs. "I'm glad you're both safe."

* * *

With the dropship powering towards the atmosphere and the ruckus of battle shut out, the soldiers restored relative order surprisingly quickly. Civilians formed into lines and moved through the hatches under the guidance of Colonel Brishana. Irila followed her aunt through a hatch after making Susan promise to see her later. The girl was giddy at the prospect of going into space, and Rizzi couldn't help but smile at her innocent exuberance. The horrors of the war seemed to just slide right off the child. She didn't hold the same confidence for some of the other civilians, walking around with shell-shocked expressions.

She staggered over to her squad, who were leaning against one of the armored bulkheads. She felt her hand trembling as the burn of adrenaline began to fade from her system and reached up and detached her faceplate.

Rizzi immediately regretted the action. A pungent reptilian odor hit her nostrils like a shot of pepper spray and she scrunched her face up. "I didn't realize we smelled this bad," she said as she pinched her nose. She'd known none of them could lay claim to being odorless, but this… The smell managed to combine the worst notes of wet dog and rotting vegetation, along with a strange hint of… antiseptic?

"I'm pretty sure that isn't us," K'Thane said. She'd also wrinkled her nose in distaste. The commando pointed at the deck; Rizzi looked down at the center where K'Thane indicated and wrinkled her nose more. Several large brown streaks ran across the deck towards the ramp exit. "I'm also pretty sure that wasn't us. I hope."

Vael and Kerranus walked over, avoiding the streaks. "Judging by your expressions," Vael said, "I should be thankful this suit has olfactory filters, shouldn't I?"

Rizzi nodded.

"I guess I'm keeping my helmet on then," Kerranus said.

Marx took her helm off and scratched at her unwashed hair. She took a breath, then froze in horror and clapped a hand over her nose and mouth. "Wow. What _is_ that?"

"Ah, that would be the kakliosaur smell." The salarian who'd been ushering people through one of their hatches approached. "Don't worry, you get used to it."

Rizzi gave the salarian a blank look. "Okay: first, what's a kakliosaur, and second, why would I want to get used to this smell?"

"Ah." The salarian went dreamy-eyed. It reminded Rizzi strongly of a krogan who'd just been offered a barrel of ryncol, a Claymore, and as many complimentary thermal clips as needed. "A kakliosaur… is a miracle."

Now they all stared blankly at the salarian. "A very foul smelling miracle," K'Thane said.

"Kakliosaurs were extinct war-mounts the krogan rode in ages past. Very tough, very fierce. Immune to toxins, which made them quite an asset during the Rachni Wars. Apparently, also very odorous. None of the records mentioned that."

"You said they were extinct," Wu remarked.

"Yes! _Were_ being the operative term! We always thought they had a relatively uncomplicated genetic structure. Should be simple enough to clone, if we had viable genetic samples. Then one day Commander Shepard shows up at the Citadel and tells my colleague he's found a fossilized kakliosaur skull! Commander Shepard! Just shows up with a kakliosaur skull!" The salarian was rubbing his hands together in glee at this point.

Rizzi rubbed her eyes. The adrenaline had worn off and the better part of a week's exhaustion was starting to sink in. "You… cloned _dinosaurs_ for the krogan to ride like ponies?"

"And who's 'we'?" Vael said.

"Uh… call it interested parties in a certain… _tasks_ group. And they're not ponies. They're… well alright, _dinosaur _is not an inaccurate description." The salarian straightened. "Forgive me; where are my manners? I'm Doctor Lorim Nar, one of the project heads."

The dropship shuddered gently. Rizzi recognized the feeling of a ship leaving atmosphere. She arched an eyebrow at Lorim Nar. "So what's a salarian doctor of a dinosaur cloning project doing on a krogan dropship in asari space?"

"Evacuating teams comprised of asari, humans, turians, and quarians, of course."

Rizzi opened her mouth, shut it. Nodded. "Good point."

Lorim smiled. "It's quite the multi-species galactic effort these days. But to answer your question earnestly, I was overseeing the housing and transport of the first batch of kakliosaur clones to Tuchanka. As it turns out, they needed the transport ships in a hurry. We barely had time to get the kakliosaurs unloaded. They're quite hostile when riled, but that strikes me as a desirable trait in a war-mount."

"Why wouldn't you stay with them?" Kerranus said. "They sound like quite the pet project for you."

"Well, the dropships needed the manpower. I thought I could do some good. Maybe provide medical assistance, though it has been a while since I've gotten hands-on. Or as it happened, man the dropship guns. Surprisingly fun. I understand a little better now why the krogan appear to enjoy weapons so much."

"That was you on the guns?" One of the shield-bearing krogan stomped over. He and the others had hung up the massive shields on a rack along the opposite side of the chamber. His pale gray armor hummed with audible servos. "Hah! Good shooting, Narwhal! We'll make a proper warrior out of you yet!" The krogan walked off towards the hatch leading deeper into the ship.

"Narwhal?"

"Kakliosaurs have a single horn protruding from their heads. Combined with my name and a sudden popularity for all things from Earth after Shepard's role in curing the genophage…" Lorim sighed. "Sometimes I think it was a mistake to give the krogan Extranet access."

Rizzi nodded mechanically. In truth, the conversation was getting very hard to follow- she could barely keep her eyes open. She tried to stifle a yawn and failed. The yawn triggered a chain reaction among the operatives which did not go unnoticed by Lorim. "Follow me, I'll show you to some quarters."

Lorim led them through the hatch and into the innards of the dropship. Like nearly everything krogan-designed, the interior was sparse, functional, and battered. Unpainted steel comprised the decks and bulkheads while pipes and ducts ran overhead. At least the krogan design meant it was relatively spacious for the squad. They passed civilians wandering around as Lorim explained how they were in the process of setting up an improvised mess hall and latrines. Rizzi was just thankful that the corridors didn't smell as strongly of kakliosaur.

A loud clank and shudder reverberated through the ship and the squad started. "Don't worry," said Lorim. "That's just us attaching to the umbilical ship."

"Umbilical ship?"

"These vessels don't have FTL capability," Lorim said as waved around at their surroundings. "Probably something to do with all that power going to weapons. So they have special ships that we hook up to for long-distance travel. Each of them can tow a dozen of these dropships. It's not pretty, but it works."

Rizzi nodded once.

"Here we are." Lorim popped open a hatch to a chamber that was designed for four krogan. Who would have to really get along; it was cramped even by human standards. "Ah, I forgot there were only four beds. I can try to-"

"It's not a problem," Rizzi said.

"It's not?"

"Nope."

"I see. Well actually I don't, but… anyways, enjoy your rest. Remember, the mess is down that corridor." Lorim headed off.

The six tired operatives squeezed into the cabin. The bulkheads sported various scrawls and graffiti carved by bored krogan, denigrating the ancestry of rival clans or turians. Four wide beds folded out of one bulkhead; they might as well have been steel tables for how hard they were. Rizzi didn't care at the moment. Another jolt from the inertial dampeners ran through the ship.

She tugged Wu over to one of the beds gently and collapsed onto it, feeling the last of her strength draining away. Wu sank down beside her and slid an arm under head; she snuggled up against him and sighed. They were both still in their armor but were inured to it after nearly a week of living that way. They laid their helmets beside their heads.

"Oh, that's what you meant," Vael said. "That doesn't look very comfortable."

K'Thane eyed Marx's up and down before looking down at her own commando leathers. "This seems an unequal arrangement."

Marx gave her a crooked grin. "Fine, you get to be on top this time."

Rizzi stopped paying attention to the others as they hashed out the sleeping arrangements. She reached and brushed an errant lock of hair from Wu's forehead. He opened his eyes and gave her a tired smile before closing them again. She laid her head down on his shoulder. This was a temporary reprieve, she knew. Soon they'd come face-to-face with what the whole endeavor on Thessia had cost them. Soon would come the grieving and the guilt. For now, she'd be content with escaping alive. Rizzi closed her eyes and sleep claimed her.


	26. Starting the Road to Recovery

Susan opened her eyes to dim lighting and quiet mechanical humming. She struggled to remember where she was for a moment and lifted her head, wincing at the host of aches and sores that came with sleeping in armor. Krogan-scrawled graffiti on unpainted metal walls stared back at her as she blinked. She realized she was pressed up against something – somebody – and turned her head to see Elijah, eyes closed. His armor made his breathing hard to see. In his repose, in the lighting, he looked like a corpse.

She saw Leon Michaels, struggling as the Praetorian brought his head up to its maw…

Susan got up quietly off the slab of steel that passed for krogan bedding, careful not to disturb Elijah. He still shifted and reached for her in his sleep. Witnessing that little action brought tears to her eyes; she wasn't sure why. A part of her wanted to climb back next to him, settle in his arms, and let the galaxy burn as they shut out everything.

She stared down at him for another moment before turning away. Lisa and Maiena shared the slab next to theirs, clutching each other in their sleep as if they were the only safe lifelines in an explosive decompression. On the next bed over Felix Kerranus slept on his side, arms crossed. On the last bed lay Maletha'Vael, who had her fingers laced behind her head.

Susan checked the time; they'd been asleep for nearly seven hours. She left the cabin as quietly as possible and headed for the latrines, mentally groaning at the thought of dealing with her armor. The dropship's corridors were far less crowded currently, though some people were sleeping along the edges in bedrolls. She felt a brief pang of guilt at having an actual bed, then went on her way. She trembled as she went; the aftermath of that last battle on Thessia left her body and mind running in a dozen different directions at once.

* * *

"Why don't we have windows?" Irila said as she sat on the bench next to Susan. Muted conversations sounded throughout the rectangular chamber converted into a mess hall of sorts. They each chewed on a square slab of nutrient-dense proteins and carbohydrates. The emergency relief food came wrapped in bright foil denoting which type of amino acid-based creature each block was suitable for. If Susan closed her eyes and let her imagination run wildly rampant, she could pretend it was chocolate.

"This is a dropship," she said. "It's designed to bring soldiers into dangerous places, like that last battle. Windows would be bad in those places."

"Oh." Irila ate another piece of her bar. "Are we going to the Citadel?"

"I don't know, sweetie." Susan thought about the information vacuum the soldiers currently lived in. There was no mission control, no liaison with Alliance Intelligence. Their ship wasn't even travelling under its own power and direction.

"Will we go somewhere with windows soon? I want to _see_ space."

"I hope so." Susan gave her a little smile. "You know space is mostly empty, right?"

"I don't care. It's still pretty."

Susan paused in her chewing. How long had it been since she'd thought that? How long had it been since she'd looked at the endless expanses of the stars without thinking of the monsters that lurked among them, and the lost lives among the uncaring cosmos?

"Susan?" Irila's bar froze halfway to her mouth. "Why are you crying?"

* * *

As it turned out, they didn't go to the Citadel. The dropship vibrated as its carrier dropped out of FTL. According to Susan's omni-tool, the journey had taken over nineteen hours. The exhausted soldiers had spent a considerable portion of that time unconscious as their bodies demanded the payment of the sleep debt from their time on Thessia.

Susan was in one of the holds with Maiena giving some of the children and teenagers rudimentary biotics training when they arrived. She noticed many of the older ones hanging on Maiena's every word and action and smiled. The commando had cut quite the combination of glamor and heroism on the homeworld, and many asari had taken note. And now here they were, laying the groundwork to prepare the next generation of biotic killers.

Maiena looked up as the ship groaned from the FTL transition. "It sounds like we've arrived. Let's wrap this up; get back to your families."

The dropship gave a metallic clunk as it disengaged from its umbilical ship and the background hum changed pitch as it engaged its own engines. Susan and Maiena headed for their cabin to collect their meager packs. Susan didn't have anything left in hers besides empty bottles for water and two thermal clips.

The squad waited as the dropship landed some minutes later with a gentle thud. They stayed in the cabin as streams of refugees flooded by for the exit. Once the crowds lessened they headed out themselves. The dropship ramp led into a cavernous hangar bay that looked like a repurposed cargo hold. It certainly wasn't the Citadel; Susan didn't recognize where they might be.

Lines of refugees led to stations of aid workers that processed and directed civilians deeper into… wherever they were. More stations off to the side sported lines of soldiers, where they embarked onto shuttles constantly arriving and leaving.

"Doctor, do you know where we are?" Susan asked as Lorim Nar walked down the dropship ramp with a sporty bag over his shoulder.

"Ah, Hope Station Three. One of the major stations at the Crucible construction site."

Susan's eyes widened. "Why are we bringing refugees to the Crucible project?"

Maiena cocked her head as she looked over the processing stations. "Expertise. That was a big part of why we went to Thessia: to extract people who could help with the Crucible, either directly or through other channels, corporate and political."

Susan looked over at the line with children. "That's not why I went." She walked over to the station, where two asari handled the paperwork. They didn't look like refugees; both were dressed in stylish but functional business outfits. Susan stood before them in her scuffed and stained armor.

"How may I help you?" the asari on the right said.

"What's going to happen to the kids here?"

"Oh, we'll integrate them into our children's program."

Susan blinked. "The Crucible has a children's program?"

"Well, of course! Given the size of the project and how many project members have family it's a practical requirement. And don't worry: any new arrivals who have been near combat zones receive the finest in child counseling and therapy. Which one of these is your daughter?"

"Oh. Uh, none of them."

The asari smiled. "I see. Don't worry; they'll all receive the best care here."

"That's good to hear," Susan said, nodding. "Thank you." She turned away and walked over to Irila, who was waiting in line. She knelt down before the girl, who was still in her dirty clothes.

"Do you need to go now?"

Susan nodded, her throat tight. "I'm afraid so. There are still monsters out there to fight."

Irila threw her arms around Susan. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." A torrent of things to say swept through Susan's mind. She wanted to wish Irila well, to tell her to enjoy her childhood, to wish that the girl didn't have to grow up in the midst of this war. "You take care of yourself, alright?"

Irila nodded. "You too."

Susan released her, stepped back, and walked away towards the rest of her squad, who stood in line at one of the stations processing operatives into shuttles. Elijah turned to her, a questioning expression on his face. She gave him a little shake of her head; he nodded once and she took her place with them in the line.

"So, where are these shuttles going?" Maletha asked the Marine manning the station as he processed their omni-tool IDs.

"The Lair."

"It's here?" said Marx.

The Marine shrugged. "It _is_ a bunch of ships stuck together. They moved it here to… help things along after Thessia."

"How many teams have come through here?" Susan asked.

"Not nearly enough."

* * *

Susan stepped off the shuttle into one of the Lair's docking bays. Shuttles from various species buzzed around her, depositing other squads. All of them still wore their armor, in various states of tear and batter after Thessia. She strode determinedly through the hatch leading deeper in, making her way through corridors that boasted fewer people than past visits. The squad followed and fell silent as they realized where she was going.

She stepped into the Information Update Center, helmet faceplate in hand. The name was a cruel euphemism. Nobody wanted to call it by its typical function: the death announcement room. A plain rectangular chamber sported screens covering all the bulkheads. Casualty listings ran like digital waterfalls across them all. Never bare, names bloated every surface, bearing silent and hideous testimony to what Thessia had cost. Operatives crowded the room; some moved between screens, searching for specific names, others sat grieving on the benches in the middle of the room.

Susan moved between the screens, sleeping in between other operatives. She glossed over the section listing N7 casualties, but one name still leapt out at her: _Michaels, Leon Seamus_. Her eyes flew over the other information like his species, home organization, and rank, but the glowing red status title felt like a brand to her eyes: _KIA_. She turned away as Lisa reached a hand out to the name and Maiena brought a hand to Lisa's shoulder.

She kept moving, looking for- there it was. She looked down the list of ship names, and her breath caught in her throat as she saw what she feared.

_SSV Antietam_ – Systems Alliance – Frigate, Waterloo Class – Status: _Lost in Action, Survivors Recovered: 0_

She told herself she should stop now. But it wasn't enough. She kept looking. Damn it, why did she keep looking? There was the listing for Damon Jones, the captain who'd run his ship with quiet authority and went out of his way to accommodate the Special Ops teams. Martya Aguinaldo, always up to date with the latest gossip. She forced herself to keep reading.

_Murphy, Eric_ – M.D. – Status: _MIA_

She realized… she'd never known his first name. He'd treated her for gunshot wounds, lacerations, burns, but she'd never asked him his name. She took a shaky breath as she remembered how he fussed over his tea. Always the same mug, with the proper amount of leaves and the precise amount and temperature of the water. She kept looking.

_Banafsheh, Frances Darya_ – CAPT – Status: _MIA_

Susan stared at the name. _MIA_ – God she hated that abbreviation! That one little word, _missing_, made fate so mysterious, so unknown, teasing, mocking in the hope that it sometimes bestowed, yet like an omni-blade carving its way through your gut at other times. All too often _missing_ was just the coward's way of saying "they probably suffocated to death as their escape pods ran out of power."

Her vision blurred and wet heat ran down her face. "You were supposed to unwind come shore leave, Captain." Her voice broke. "You weren't supposed to be in the line of fire. You're mission control. You're supposed to guide us back, guide us home. Where does that leave us?"

"Susan?" She heard Elijah's voice, felt his hand on her arm. She looked at him; he was just a blur through her tears. She stepped back, out of his reach, shook her head sadly and angrily at him. She turned and half-fled from the room.

"Susan!" Elijah called. He took a step forward, but Lisa grabbed his arm.

"Wait," she said with a shake of her head. "Give her space. Let her… let her process."

* * *

Susan stormed through the corridors of the Lair, tears streaming down her cheeks. Nobody stopped her. In truth, she wasn't the only one. She felt like it though. She felt… she felt pulled, in different directions. She felt like a dull blade was slowly sawing into her.

She stumbled through a hatchway, uncaring of what was beyond it. An observation gallery. Fine. Two others in it, one significantly larger than the other. Fine. She staggered to one of the benches and collapsed onto it, dropping her faceplate from her hand onto the floor with a dull clatter.

Susan wept.

She wept for the lives lost on Thessia. She wept for the soldiers she'd known and fought alongside: left behind, denied even a burial.

She wept for Irila, who would likely grow up in a cosmos where her only existence would be fighting a losing war against extinction.

She wept for Banafsheh, stalwart and unpraised, perpetually working behind the scenes.

She wept for Murphy, a man who was not a warrior by any means, and who made the universe a better place for it.

She wept for Sam, who should have been here, helping to design and build this Crucible, this last light against the encroaching darkness.

And she wept for herself, though it felt selfish. She wept for the vain hopes and dreams she'd been starting to nurture, that just maybe she'd found somebody she wanted to spend her life with, that there were things to look forward to beyond the horrors of this war.

She-

"What are you crying about, Rizzi?"

Susan snapped her gaze forward as she surged to her feet, hours of training overriding her other responses. That voice… she quickly swiped a hand over her eyes, wiping away tears as she focused on the slender man in Alliance BDUs standing before her with hands clasped behind his back.

"Commander Akitaiko! Sir!" She reflexively snapped a salute to her old instructor from N7 training, eyes widening as she realized he'd been one of the occupants of the observation gallery.

The slender, shaven-headed man returned the salute. "At ease, Lieutenant." He gave her a piercing look over, then, "Sit."

She sat down, back ramrod straight, hardly daring to breathe.

"Now, what was one of my N7s crying about in a public observation gallery?"

"Nothing, sir!"

"Don't you 'nothing' me, Rizzi." He looked over her again. His voice softened. "You just got in from Thessia, didn't you?"

"Yes sir." She stared straight ahead.

Akitaiko sighed. She'd heard him sigh before, usually right after examining a trainee's performance on an exercise and right before verbally tearing them a new orifice. This was a different sigh.

"Who'd we lose?"

"Michaels."

"Leon Michaels?"

Susan nodded.

"How'd he die?"

"Holding the line against Collectors so the rest of us could escape. We… one of my squad… mercy-killed him, sir."

"Necessary, in your opinion?"

"I… yes, sir," she said quietly.

"Difficult thing." Another look. "Who else?"

"The ship we were stationed on. All of them. And our mission control, Captain Banafsheh."

"Banaf-" Akitaiko stopped and sucked in a short breath. "Not Frances Banafsheh?"

Susan looked at him in surprise. "You knew her, sir?"

A shadow passed over 'Psycho Taiko's face and he sat down on the bench next to her. "I knew her, yes. We worked several missions back when…" He trailed off. He let out a sigh; Susan had never seen or heard him act like such a… person. "I- _We'll_ miss her. She… was a good soldier."

"Yes sir."

"And what else?"

"Sir?"

"I've seen grief before, Rizzi. There's something else there on your face, your body language."

"It's… nothing, sir."

"What did I just say about giving me the 'nothing' routine?"

Susan stiffened at his tone; she'd heard him use it once right before beating a krogan down hand-to-hand. She cleared her throat. "It… it seems pretty silly, all things considered."

"If it affects your combat readiness, it's not silly. I thought I trained you better than that."

"Yes sir." She sniffled, brought a hand up to her face. "I… I think I picked one hell of a bad time to fall in love, sir."

She realized the admission was as much for her as it was for the gruff commander. It felt oddly liberating, though it set off another cascade of tumultuous emotions within. Akitaiko let out a bark of laughter. Susan whirled, eyes flaring. He waved her down, let out another small chuckle.

"Lieutenant, allow me to share an observation with you. Nobody ever picks a good time to fall in love."

Susan blinked. Well, that was unexpected. "… Sir?"

"People have this tendency to think you can just fall in love and plug it into your existing life; have everything be the same _and_ this great new thing called being in love. It doesn't work that way. Love is a transformative force. It always upsets the status quo, brings uncomfortable change. It magnifies us; brings out the best and the worst in each of us."

Susan blinked again. She definitely hadn't expected that. She wasn't entirely sure who Akitaiko had been talking to, either. "Um, sir, would you care to-"

"If I have to explain it to you Rizzi, you'll never understand."

Susan blinked _several_ times. This conversation had gotten… odd. She looked at him. "Sir, that doesn't even make sense."

"Neither does life a great deal of the time." Akitaiko stood up. "Now, I'm going to go say goodbye to Frances. I suggest you get cleaned up." He headed for the door. "I recommend a shower," he said over his shoulder on the way out.

Susan sat still for another minute, trying to make sense of what had just occurred. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up- and gulped. A massive krogan, larger than most she'd seen, stood before her. He wore dirty white armor with faded markings. The battle hammer slung over his right shoulder looked like it weighed more than she did. He stared down at her for another moment and then said, "You're Rizzi."

She wanted to glance over her shoulder, see if he was talking to somebody else in the room. "Yes…"

"They never gave _me_ a Graal."

Susan decided she was blinking an awful lot during conversations today.

"What Mark are you up to?" the krogan continued. "Five?"

"Six."

"Hmm. I'd like to give one a try someday." He reached up and scratched his chin. "You know, I was invited to visit the female clans for breeding seventeen times. All seventeen times were after performing an act of valor on the battlefield. I still have scars from fourteen of those acts. The battlefield acts, not the mating. Actually, I have some of those scars too."

"Okay…" Now Susan _did_ glance around.

"I only ever successfully sired one child. My seventeenth visit. I always wanted a son. I would raise him up in the krogan ways. I would teach him the art of the hunt, the art of battle. You know what I got?"

"… A daughter?"

"A daughter! By the Void, I was furious. For years! Wouldn't even talk to her – or her mother."

"Okay..."

"Then one day she finished her shaman training. She asked me to attend the final ceremony. I owed her that much, I thought. Then right before she gave up her name, she walked up to me. Called me 'Father.' I knew then what a fool I'd been. She was my daughter. _My daughter_. I'd been so angry about not getting what thought I wanted that I'd missed what was right in front of me." He stared out at nothing for a moment, then looked down at Susan. "I'm going to go see if they'll give me a Graal."

The krogan left the room, his footsteps thudding on the deck. Susan sat still as she digested the conversations she'd just had. She picked up her fallen faceplate, looked down at its scarred surface. She looked up, out the observation gallery's window, and the breath left her lungs at the sight. She stood up, walked up to the window.

The partly finished Crucible hung in the void before her. Construction scaffolding enclosed a gargantuan sphere with a long cylindrical spar extending from one side. Plates, gears, parts, studded every surface. Ships danced endlessly to and fro from end to end. Calling it _big_ was an understatement; it dwarfed the dreadnoughts guarding it. At a glance, she'd estimate its scale to be comparable to the Citadel.

Here floated the last hope, some would say the _only_ hope, of the allied races. Susan gazed at the project in awe. This… project, this effort, was unprecedented. The scale and level of cooperation exhibited by… just about every known species. The staggering, mind-blowing cost. The amount of resources poured into it. Nobody even knew what it was _supposed_ to do, much less whether or not it would actually work. But it was a message, she realized. Extinction had come for them – all of them, and they would spit in its eye and fight it with _everything_ even as the galaxy burned.

She reached a hand out and pressed it to the window. At this distance, her hand eclipsed the spherical portion of the Crucible. It was like holding the great weapon against the Reapers in her hand. It was like holding _hope_ in her hand. The fireworks of emotion within her hit another peak. Another tear ran down her face as she realized there were other things she also wanted to hold.

* * *

Susan pressed the door buzzer tentatively. There hadn't been time for any reassignments, so he should still have this cabin, but she wasn't sure if he- The door slid open. Elijah Wu stood in the doorway, clad in his armor's black undersuit with a toothbrush in his mouth. His brown eyes exhibited the same recent exhaustion that they all felt. He took the toothbrush out of his mouth.

"Susan. Are you…"

"Can I… use your shower?" She gave him a hesitant smile.

He nodded and stepped aside to let her enter. She walked into the little cabin, suddenly a little unsure of herself again. Seeing him set off a dozen different feelings. She looked at his armor, neatly stacked and arranged in the corner. His sword lay in its sheath on the little desk along one bulkhead. How like him to have done all that before seeing to himself. She looked at him again. She didn't trust herself to say anything right then, so she just started unbuckling and stripping off her armor. Unlike him, she let the various pieces lay where they fell. She'd clean it up later.

She looked back up at him when she was down to her own skintight undersuit. Susan felt her heart rate speed up as she looked at Elijah's unshaven face. His eyes looked back at her with a mix of concern, compassion, acceptance- and hunger. She stripped down the rest of the way, hesitant. The grime felt like a solid layer coating her.

Elijah stepped into the little bathroom. "Nice thing about being here: lots of fresh provisions from the construction site," he said. "There's hot water, as much as you want."

Susan stepped in after him. Elijah stood at the sink, brushing his teeth. He met her eyes in the mirror and indicated the shower head with a tilt of his head. There were no partitions, just one chromed section in the little space, with a drain in the floor. She'd seen bigger closets, honestly. She brushed past him and felt him stir gently as she put a hand on his shoulder briefly.

She stepped under shower head and turned the faucet knob gently and closed her eyes at the sensation of warm water sluicing over her. A sob wracked through her and she turned, falling back against the wall under the slow drizzle of water. She'd set it so low that it was more of a constant drip than a spray. She slid down the wall, barely feeling the cold metal against her back as she curled up with her knees almost at her chin.

Elijah looked at her, his own eyes wet. "Do you want me to leave?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head and stretched out a hand limply towards him. Still in his armor's undersuit, he stepped over and sat down next to her. He wrapped an arm around her as they sat under the shower's gentle droplets. Her body shook with sobs as her tears blended with the warm water running down them both from above.

The tears felt different from before. They felt like a gun brush scouring out the innards of an overworked rifle, expunging the built-up grime and residue. She wept as Elijah silently stroked her shoulders all the while. As the minutes passed, with each sob and tear she felt… lighter. A current ran through her, from crown to heel, down her arms and legs, through to the tips of each finger and toe. The entirety of her body felt like it was vibrating a hundred times a second.

She felt… alive.

And for once in a long time, she didn't feel guilty about it.

And she realized that sometime in the last however long, sitting cramped in the tiny shower, knees curled to her chest, brown hair plastered to her face, she'd navigated an internal bend. The sensation settling down upon her, aside from the continuing flowing current, was… well, it wasn't exactly peace. But she could see it from here, and that was just fine for the moment.

The last sobs and sniffles passed away. She brought up a hand and brushed her mop of hair out of her face, releasing a quaky breath as she did so. She leaned her head onto Elijah's shoulder, and finally grew aware of how soaked his thin black undersuit had gotten sitting under the shower with her.

"Better, ahuvati?" he murmured by her ear.

She shifted, bringing more of her bare skin in contact with him. "Better." She tucked her head into his shoulder, felt the smooth fabric of the undersuit beneath her cheek. "What was that you called me?"

"Um, an old Hebrew term of… endearment."

Susan wiped off her face, then looked at Elijah, who was trying his hardest to stare straight ahead. She waited until he turned his face to hers, then leaned forward and kissed him- and drew back quickly.

"What's wrong?" he said. She'd scrunched her face up into an expression not dissimilar to her first whiff of kakliosaur.

Susan shook her head. "You need a shave," she said, and then erupted in quiet laughter at the absurdity of it all. She stroked his face, ran her fingers over the rough stubble on his chin as his chest also shook with laughter.

Elijah grinned. "I was getting to that. But _somebody_ keeps barging in and using me for my shower."

"I believe it's a mutually beneficial… relationship." She leaned in, kissed him again, and drew back even faster than before. "Hmm, no. Shave, _now._"

"Yes ma'am."

"And then…" She plucked at his soaked undersuit. "I think we'd better get you out of these wet clothes, soldier."

He made a rumbling noise from deep within his chest that sent a thrill through Susan's spine… and other parts. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

A thought pierced the blissful haze of Susan's mind. She sat up in the little bed that hadn't been meant for two. "Oh, crap."

"What is it?" Elijah sat up beside her, stroking her shoulder.

Susan sighed. "I just realized I have no clothes."

"Really? Because I've been _very_ aware for the last-"

"Not like that," Susan said with a grin. Then the grin faded. "My kitbag… BDUs, spare clothes, everything, was on the _Antietam_."

"Oh." His arms wrapped around her from behind and she leaned back into him, feeling the gentle pulse of his heartbeat against her back. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I'll miss the people more than the clothes, but right now…"

"Kind of need the clothes?"

Susan groaned. "Yeah."

They both jumped as Elijah's computer trilled with a message alert. He got up, stepped over their discarded towel, and called up the message. He read it over for several seconds and groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"What happened?" Susan felt her heart fall. Not another mobilization alert… She knew it was petty, but she _really_ didn't want to get back into her dirty undersuit. She began mentally steeling herself to pick it up as she stood up.

"It's just for me. There's a meeting in ten minutes for quarian and geth integration analysis."

"What? Is that still going on? Even after Thessia?"

"Never underestimate the tenacity of bureaucracy," Elijah said, sighing. "I swear, the bureaucrats will be the last things the Reapers-" He broke off. "Sorry, not funny."

Susan stepped in, kissed him. "That's incentive enough to beat them then, isn't it?"

"Good point."

He glanced down. "I'm sorry, but…"

"Duty calls. We'd- You'd better get dressed then."

"I do have some spares in the dressers here," Elijah said. "They're not exactly your size, but they're clean."

"I'll take it." Susan stepped back – and nearly tripped over one of her discarded boots. "Gah!"

"That's why I stack my armor up neatly."

"Fine, you get to do the housecleaning in the future." The retort slipped out of her without conscious thought and she froze. Looked at him in a half-panic.

He looked back at her with an inquisitive expression. "Deal." He broke the moment with a nod towards the little metal drawer protruding from the bulkhead. "Underclothes and socks in the top drawer, shirts middle, and pants bottom."

She grabbed two of each set, one for each of them. They dressed together in the little cabin. Elijah looked normal, like he should. No surprise. Susan on the other hand…

"This is ridiculous."

"You don't look that…" He broke off as she raised an eyebrow at him. "Alright, that looks pretty bad."

The shirt was too long, and alternately too loose or too tight in different places. The pants were no better, and needed to be cinched up too much at the waist while it chafed uncomfortably at her hips. She'd needed to roll the pant legs up multiple folds to have her heels actually sticking out all the way. The whole ensemble hung off her strangely, like she was an unevenly stuffed scarecrow.

Susan ran a hand through her hair and blinked at Elijah. "You take a blow to the head on Thessia? You're looking at me like I'm wearing that evening gown from the Citadel."

Elijah shrugged. "It's the person inside the outfit that counts."

"Good answer." She reached out and adjusted the fit of his shirt. "You'd better get going to make that meeting on time."

"Right. Oh here, before I go. Let me sync your omni-tool so you have free access to the cabin. It's not exactly a mansion on Bekenstein."

"It's the person you share it with that counts."

He smiled and kissed her gently. "Alright, I'd better get to this meeting." He sighed. "Time to deal with military bureaucracy."

"You're not the only one. I need to go see Procurement about getting some clothes."

He arched an eyebrow. "This will end well."

"Oh come on, there are always spares in stock. It's Alliance-issue BDUs. Even they can't screw _that_ up."


	27. Fittings, Food, and Fellowship

"They're standard issue! How do you screw that up?!" Susan glared down at the procurement officer sitting behind the desk. The harried-looking woman looked back at her defensively.

"Now ma'am, raising your voice won't help. I'm afraid we are out of Alliance BDUs at the moment, and that's that."

"How do you run out of those?"

"I'm not privy to all the resource difficulties in the supply chain, ma'am."

"We're at the construction site for the single largest project the galaxy has ever known! This thing has no budget cap, no resource limits! I jumped off an exploding train a hundred meters in the air to _get_ some of those resources! I just walked past a mess hall serving a turian dessert that looks like a tree made out of carved sugar and fruits. And then they lit it on _fire_! How can there be 'resource difficulties' when it comes to _Alliance BDUs_?"

"Ma'am, I understand you're upset, but I can't give you something I don't have. Oh wait, I've got something here."

"_Thank_ you." Rizzi sat down at the seat before the desk and glanced around furtively. She was suddenly aware of how the background conversations in the immediate area had died away._ Please don't let there be a journalist recording this._

"We still have some boots in your size," the procurement officer said, looking up from the screen before her.

"Okay, good! Boots are good!" Susan looked down at the boots she was wearing, taken from her armor and still coated with mud from the temple lake.

"Oh, there are some BDUs listed here."

"Alright." She let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, maybe not. They're listed for krogan."

"_Krogan?_ Why do we have Alliance BDUs for krogan?"

"I think they were commissioned as a symbol of the cooperation between the krogan clans and the Systems Alliance. Would you like to requisition a set?"

Susan just stared at the officer.

"I'll take that as a 'no.'"

"What about dress uniforms?" Susan brought a palm to her face when she received an apologetic shake of the head.

"We just ran out of those too." The officer went back to typing for several moments. "Is there anything else besides BDUs you needed?"

"Clothes. All kinds. Everything of mine was aboard one of the ships we lost at Thessia."

"Oh. You have my condolences."

"Thank you. It also means I need, well, everything. Underwear, socks, toothbrush. _Floss_. You name it."

"Let me see what I can help you with. Let's see, toothbrushes. We don't have any regular models available at the moment. But," she said hurriedly as Susan groaned and rolled her eyes, "your service history does entitle you to some of the premium models on a copay system."

"What?"

The procurement officer turned one of her three screens to Susan. The screen displayed a toothbrush schematic, if a toothbrush was some sort of miniature starship capable of jumping between stars. "This is a Cision Pro Mark Three. It's not the latest model, but it uses mass effect fields to break up plaque. With this, you'll never need stringed floss again. The Cision Pro series offers unparalleled deep cleaning and represents the top of the line in oral hygiene."

Briefly, Susan wondered how it was that every procurement officer she'd ever encountered could rattle off a smooth sales pitch for whatever piece of equipment they were presenting at the moment. Was it an art form? Were they trained to do so as part of some Alliance procurement program? Was there some blurb that accompanied each item they were required to read? Had Michaels been right after all? Were they all indoctrinated and connected via some hive mind?

She shook herself out of the mental sidetracking. "You mentioned a copay system?"

"Correct. Under your current qualifications, you would pay a thousand credits."

"A _thousand_? It's a toothbrush."

"With an integrated eezo reactor. And an ergonomic no-slip, textured grip." The officer glanced at her screens again. "And you do have quite the sizable bonus from the operation on Thessia, Lieutenant. Combat pay, hazardous duty, VIP escort…" Her eyes widened. "Actually, you have quite the backlog of mission bonuses accumulating. You… you've seen quite a bit of combat, ma'am."

Susan sighed. "Yes, I suppose I have. Okay, you know what; I really do need a toothbrush. I'll take it."

"You won't regret it! Now let's see about other provisions. Socks… good news, we have those in your size. Will four pairs be adequate for now?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"Hmm, bad news on the underwear. We're out."

"How can you be out of underwear?!" Susan broke off, cognizant of the sudden silence following her outburst. She looked around at the multiple stares directed her way. She narrowed her eyes; a twist of mental effort encased her in a gently glowing blue biotic field. Operatives and staff alike quickly directed their gazes elsewhere. She sighed as she let the field dissipate. "Never mind. What kind of clothes _do_ you have? That will fit me."

The procurement officer went back to her screens. "We have some salarian outfits donated by the STG…"

"They have concave chests," Susan said, pointing at her own. "Kind of the opposite thing going on here."

"Right, of course." More tapping at the screen. "How about this? We have surplus outfits for asari operatives. They're similar enough in shape and build to humans. Let me double-check your size here, and… I could get you… two sets of asari commando leather, and the matching underwear."

"Matching underwear?" Susan threw up her hands. "You know what; I don't care at this point. If it fits, I'll take it."

"Alright, so that'll be one Cision Pro Mark Three, two sets of commando leathers with accompanying undergarments, four pairs of socks, and one pair of Alliance issue boots. I'd better throw in a kitbag here. Never let it be said that Alliance Procurement doesn't take care of its own."

Susan opened her mouth incredulously as the procurement officer typed away, oblivious. She managed to halt her tongue before she said something she'd probably regret later and closed her mouth. Opened it again. Closed it. Settled for, "Certainly not. Much appreciated."

The procurement officer stood up from her desk. "Excellent. If you'll wait here, ma'am, I'll be right back with your requisitions."

Susan sat back in her chair as the officer walked away. She let out a long breath as she further tried to process the events of the last days. To go from running and hiding on a conquered planet to a desperate last stand to dealing with the bureaucracy… combined with her own internal turmoil, in some ways Susan felt just as exhausted as she'd been on Thessia. The mundane nature of her current situation set her mind spinning. Even her interactions with Elijah had been so strangely… domestic. A smile slipped out as she thought about that, before another commotion drew her attention.

"You're giving me a glove? To punch things with?" The operative at the desk next to hers had just filed a procurement request.

"It's a batarian design. The gauntlet incorporates a micro-fabricator that flash-forges multiple explosive blades to maximize impact damage against your target."

Idly, Susan glanced over at the table – and clasped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"You want to give me an exploding punching glove? But… but I'm a _volus_." The squat little alien's suit hissed as he took another breath. His suit was remarkably pristine, unmarred by the scars of battle. "Have you seen my arms?"

"All the more reason for you to have an effective method of defending yourself up close."

Susan shifted her hand to cover the right half of her face as she shook her head.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

She froze, then brought up her other hand over her face. She should intervene, yell at the volus not to listen to Procurement, not to run around trying to punch Banshees in the kneecaps, not to-

"And here we are." The procurement officer Susan had been speaking with returned, pushing a loaded cart before her. She wheeled it up to the desk and set an empty kitbag out first. "You'll need this."

The officer began transferring items off the cart, naming them as she did. Susan nearly snapped that she was perfectly capable of recognizing boots for herself, but the whole process had the feel of… ritual, or tradition. People fell back on such things in times like these. She reminded herself that the procurement officer was just trying to serve in her own way. She endured it until the officer reached down into the cart and pulled out-

"What the hell is that?"

* * *

Kitbag slung over her shoulder, Susan walked through the corridors of the Lair self-consciously. She felt the eyes of others watching her and mentally cursed Procurement again. _Just ignore it_, she told herself. The gazes felt like targeting scanners locking in. The leather catsuit clung to her like an embrace from neck to toe and left nothing to the imagination._ Come on, people. Asari don't get this reaction. It must be the novelty_, she decided. She still felt the eyes – two pairs of them, in particular.

Susan stopped, spun around to scowl at the batarian who'd followed her up the length of the corridor. "Can I help you?"

He gave her a leering grin. "Alright, I've gotta say it. Your ass is _amazing._"

The batarian turned and walked away as Susan stood in the corridor, mouth open, trying to decide whether she was offended, flattered, or amused. Eventually she settled on a combination of all three and shook her head. She started on her way again and looked in on the mess hall she'd passed earlier. The flames on the big centerpiece dessert had been extinguished; the dish itself carved up like so much confectionary lumber and served to the assembled operatives. There were nearly even numbers of turians and quarians at the arranged tables, about eighty altogether. One pair sharing a table waved at her standing in the doorway.

Susan moved to the table, set her kitbag down, and sat beside Maletha'Vael as Felix Kerranus laid out slices of pale yellow fruit by twisted strips of caramelized sugar.

"Hey, you two. What's all this?"

"A turian dessert," Felix said. "Finally. It's called the Honor Tree. I'd offer you some, but…"

"Biochemical barriers," Susan shrugged. "It's no problem." Even as she said the words however she felt the pangs of hunger stirring. She hadn't gotten a real meal since… before Thessia.

"Felix was kind enough to invite me to this," Maletha said. "He was just about to explain why they call it the Honor Tree."

"Right," he said. "Traditionally the dish is served after a company's victory in battle. The fruits on the sugar tree actually corresponded with various battle honors and were served to those who'd performed them."

"I saw it was on fire earlier?" Susan said.

"That symbolizes the bond of battle."

"It's so extravagant," Maletha said. "We could never have done that on the Migrant Fleet. The fire risk!" She paused, cocked her head. "Hmm? Yes, that's true. We should invent one of our own. Maybe something with a cybernetic theme?"

Felix froze. "Is Gilbert still in your suit?"

"Hmm? Oh yes. We decided to finish the suit optimizations and immune boost process before Gilbert re-uploads to the geth collective. Plus I've gotten used to its company."

"Oh." Felix's mandibles twitched.

"Don't worry! I enjoy your company too!"

"I'm glad to hear it." Felix grinned and took a bite of the sugar structure mixed with fruit. He looked over at Susan. "So… what's with the outfit? Seems a little…"

Susan groaned. "Would you believe Procurement ran out of Alliance BDUs? _And _dress uniforms? The only things they had that fit were asari commando leathers. I didn't think they were this tight. Or thin."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Maletha said, "but you look like you just stepped out of this… _dance_ show I saw once."

Felix choked, coughed, and looked over at Maletha while Susan covered her face with a palm. "You… what?"

"It was during my Pilgrimage. A club hired me to help out with power management for a bit." She looked again at Susan's outfit. "The buckles on your belts look harder to undo, though."

The vibrating warble of Susan's omni-tool saved her from having to answer. She checked the message it announced: an invitation from Maiena to gather as a team for a late lunch. Susan smiled as she realized that despite having seen so much action, they hadn't eaten together very often.

"What is it?" Felix asked as he spooned another portion onto Maletha's plate.

"Food," Susan said as her stomach growled at the thought. "I assume you've both eaten already?"

"Oh keelah, yes," Maletha said. "_Meat_. We never have meat on the flotilla. I'm probably going to regret it later, but right now Felix, you're my hero."

Susan tried to hide her grin as Felix beamed and she grabbed her kitbag. "I'm heading to Mess Hall Six. Have fun, you two."

* * *

Lisa and Maiena stood outside the Mess Hall Six door speaking quietly when Susan arrived. The commando wore a slick blue version of her typical leathers with a small bag over one shoulder. Susan wondered where she'd gotten the replacement outfit as she approached. The Infiltrator, in a crisp dress uniform, spotted her first, eyes idly scanning the corridor over Maiena's shoulder. Susan saw Lisa's gaze sweep over her, then snap back like a recalibrated Thanix array. Her eyes widened. Maiena, seeing the change in her expression, turned around and also widened her eyes.

"Not a word," Susan said as Lisa opened her mouth.

"I was going to ask if you're okay. You were pretty torn up in the IUC."

"Oh." Susan looked down for a moment before meeting Lisa's eyes. "Sorry."

Lisa shrugged a shoulder. "No worries. So how are you?"

"I'm… holding together. And you?"

"Still in the fight. Okay… what _are_ you wearing?"

Susan groaned. "Commando leathers. Can you believe they don't have BDUs?"

Lisa snorted. "I know. I had to settle for this." She ran a hand over her dress uniform. "I hate these things! And they said I was getting the last one, like it was some big honor to-" She stopped at Susan's sudden glower. "Oh. Uh, oops?"

"It's a miracle we haven't lost this war yet." Susan looked at Maiena, who was examining her outfit with narrowed eyes. "I don't understand how you put up with the stares all the time. Although… don't tell anybody," she said, glancing around, "but this is _really_ comfortable."

"Self-molding, moisture wicking leather," Maiena said.

"The whole thing?" Susan raised an arm and took a closer look at the material, impressed despite herself. "That's… I didn't know that was possible."

"My people have had a long time to perfect such materials." Maiena sighed. "If only we'd paid more attention to other matters, like our military."

"Would it have helped?" Lisa said. "Look what the Reapers have done across the galaxy; to the turians, the batarians, and humanity."

"Maybe not. What's done is done." Maiena looked Susan over again and reached out. "You're wearing this wrong."

"Whoa! Hands!" Susan stepped back as Maiena unbuckled a strap across her chest, but the asari kept her grip on both ends, tugged her back, and then adjusted the strap's position before buckling it back together.

"There. That's how it should be worn."

Susan looked down. "Oh, come on. There's no way that's for _any_ practical purpose! The only thing that does is show off my-"

"Exactly." Maiena gave a half-smile at Susan's skeptical eyebrow. "As a commando, you must be prepared for battlefields of all sorts, both the physical and the more… subtle."

"There's nothing subtle about this outfit, Maiena."

"That's what you must make your target believe. Then you'll be in a position of strength; able to dictate the terms of engagement."

"If you say so. I think I prefer the Annihilation Field."

"Maybe not on this target," Lisa said, smirking. She nodded over Susan's shoulder. "I think he approves…"

Susan turned to Elijah as he joined the group, data pad in hand. "Put your eyes back in your head," she said. She tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't resist returning his bemused smile.

Elijah opened and closed his mouth twice. He nodded. "So, about those BDUs…"

"Don't ask."

"They ran out," Lisa said. "And I got the last dress uniform." She leaned in closer. "You can thank me later."

"Hang on," Elijah said to Susan. "Your outfit is a little different from Maiena's. There're less… protective layers. Why's that?"

"That's simple enough," Maiena said. "Susan's isn't actually the outfit issued to commandos."

"What?"

"Your procurers got the… performers' version."

Susan buried her face in her hands. "How do they manage to screw these things up?"

"In their defense, the outfits are made by the same manufacturers. They probably just put in a bulk order and didn't look too closely."

"Wait," Lisa said, gazing at Maiena. "How do you know the difference?"

"That suit reminds me of several years I spent on Illium," the asari said; the others turned to look at her. "Before I became a commando. I miss that old shotgun prop sometimes…" Maiena trailed off into a wistful sigh, then cleared her throat as she saw the others' stares. "Not that that's relevant to anything. I'll stop talking now."

"Oh you're telling me more later." Lisa licked her lips. "In detail."

Susan smirked as Maiena flushed a deeper shade of blue. Then she noticed Elijah looking her over from the corner of his eye, an… _intrigued_ expression on his face. She crossed her arms and gave him a mock glare. "No."

Elijah held his hands up. "I didn't say anything."

"You didn't need to."

"I wasn't-"

"_No_. I'm not getting a shotgun prop."

Elijah's grin split his face. "What about a prop Graal?"

Susan tilted her head and narrowed her eyes as a gently glowing biotic field sprung up around her. The pulse of energy she sent his way was nowhere near her full power, but Elijah dodged it anyway, chuckling as he did so.

* * *

Plates heaped with food, the squad sat down at a bare metal table amid the burble of background conversation. Susan looked around, at Elijah sitting next to her, Maiena and Lisa across the table, and smiled. She picked up her fork and plunged it into the steaming mound of stoemp before her. She took a mouthful of the mashed potato and carrot mixture, moaned, and rolled her eyes back.

"Wow," Lisa said. She grinned at Elijah. "Does she do that when you two…?"

"I'm not answering that," he said.

"Ooh, a gentleman. Old-fashioned."

"It's because this is the first real food we've had in a week," Susan said. "I can still taste the nutrient gel in my sleep." She speared a piece of bacon, relished the crunch and the smokiness. "Oh, meat. I completely understand Vael's reaction to it."

"Is she still running around with Gilbert in her suit?" Elijah asked.

"Yes. Poor Felix. He's trying so hard, too. Inviting her to dessert and everything."

Elijah blinked as he chewed and swallowed. "What's he trying to do?"

Susan smiled at him as Maiena shook her head. "You're oddly charming when you're so oblivious."

"Kerranus is interested in Vael?"

"Holy crap, you _are _oblivious," Lisa said with a bark of laughter. She jabbed her fork towards Elijah. "No wonder I had to shove Susan into your arms."

"As I recall, you shoved her into my apartment," he said. "We figured out the rest for ourselves." He swallowed another large forkful of stir-fried vegetables. "By the way, thank you for that. It was the best thing that's happened to me."

The sudden warmth inside Susan had nothing to do with the food.

"Well, somebody had to poke the thresher maw into action." Lisa shifted, took a bite of her own. She smiled, and Susan saw no trace of her typical teasing in it. "You're welcome."

"Speaking of thanks," Maiena said. She reached down to the bag at her feet and drew out four little glasses, each slightly larger than a typical shot glass. The smooth, swirling patterns of the glasses indicated asari design. Maiena set them down in a row, reached back into her bag, and brought forth a spiraling glass bottle marked with asari labels.

"What's this?" Susan said.

"Asari brandy from Chalkhos." Maiena poured measures with swift, precise movements and set a glass before each of them. The spicy aroma drifted up to Susan's nose. "I wanted to thank you all, for fighting for Thessia."

"You know we were just following orders?" Elijah said. "We'd have done the same for any planet."

"But it was _my _planet, and that makes it different for me." Maiena looked around at them. "If somebody told me a year ago I would be fighting for my homeworld alongside three humans, I'd have laughed. And broken their nose for the insult. It's strange, how things change." She looked at Susan. "I wasn't joking when I called you a commando earlier. Any Huntress would be honored to fight at your side."

"Thanks, Maiena." Susan sighed. "I'm sorry we couldn't do more."

"You did all you could. You stood and fought upon Thessia for its people. I hope to stand with you soon upon Earth and do the same."

"And shove the Crucible down the Reapers' throats," Lisa said.

"I like the sound of that," Elijah said.

Susan picked up the glass before her and held it out. The others looked at her, quieted, and picked their own glasses up. "Captain Banafsheh," she said.

The squad echoed her, clinked their glasses together. Drank. Maiena poured refills. The brandy slid down Susan's throat; she savored the smooth burn, the notes of smoky wood, and subtle sweetness.

"To those no longer with us," Elijah said, lifting his glass.

"Hear, hear," said Lisa as they brought their glasses together. "To Michaels, holding the line." She downed the contents of her glass, set it back down, and leaned forward. "Tell us about him," she said to Susan. "You knew him."

Susan tensed. "Why?"

"Because what he did deserves to be remembered. And not just the act, but the person."

She felt Elijah take her hand, squeeze it gently. She looked at her glass, swirled the amber liquid inside it. "Well, we picked the right way to remember him." She looked at Elijah through wet eyes. "He finished the Liver Replacement Route."

"Really? I didn't think anybody ever finished that." Elijah looked over at Lisa and Maiena's confused expressions. "The Liver Replacement Route is the name of this bar crawl through one of the seedier neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro, headquarters of the N7 program. It's something like… eleven or twelve bars within about two square kilometers. And each of them makes their own… well… the only way to describe it would be moonshine."

"They're terrible," Susan said.

"They are pretty bad. Most people give up by the fifth bar."

"Bebida do Diabo? Oh yeah, that was… _vile_. But Michaels downed two of them."

"_Two?_ And he went through the rest of the bars?"

"Yup." Susan brushed away tears with a hand even as she chuckled. "You know what was worse? We had a zero-G combat test the next day."

Elijah's face curdled into a horrified grimace. "Ooh."

"The craziest thing was," Susan continued, "that he got his highest score ever that test! See, every prior run, Michaels in zero-G was like… dogfighting with dreadnoughts. It wasn't pretty. Then this day he comes in; I don't think he was hungover, I think he was still just _drunk_. I didn't think he could _see. _He just… swaggers up and nails the course. Commander Akitaiko thought he was holding back all the previous times."

Susan found herself laughing with the others as she remembered the scene. She… preferred to remember Michaels this way, rather than his agonizing last moments.

"Commander Akitaiko was one of your trainers?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah. Michaels was always butting heads with him. Michaels never really cared for protocol…"

"While 'Psycho Taiko' was a bit of a stickler for what he called 'soldierly behavior,'" Elijah told the others.

"They respected each other when it counted though," said Susan. "There was this combat op we ran…"

Susan told some more stories about her and Michaels during N7 training. Soon enough they asked Elijah about _his_ own experiences in the program. Before long the N7s were pressing Maiena for tales from her commando experiences as the bottle of asari brandy grew lighter. The time passed, marked by both tears and laughter.

She chuckled as Maiena told the story of a volus VIP extraction gone horribly right. A quote her brother had once shared with her rose to mind: Pain shared is pain divided, joy shared is joy multiplied. Susan smiled as Maiena related her efforts to unplug the volus from a sewer drain while crocodilian reptiles closed in. She enjoyed another bite of her meal while Lisa laughed and shook her head.

Maiena's smile turned brittle as she finished her story. "That… my performance on that mission drew the attention of others. I got an invitation to join a cadre that Matriarch Benezia was assembling. One of my… friends had already joined and tried her best to recruit me."

"Benezia?" Elijah frowned. "That was the Matriarch working with Saren, right?"

"Yes. Given what we now know about the Reapers…"

"Indoctrination?"

"Probably. I never knew Matriarch Benezia, but some of the commandos working for her…" Maiena looked away momentarily. "I suppose it's a small mercy that Shepard killed them."

"Doesn't mean their loss isn't painful," Susan said. "May I ask why you didn't join them?"

"I didn't trust myself," Maiena said. "The others… they all had more experience, more accolades. I didn't think I was good enough."

"Well, I'm glad you're here."

"As am I. Not something I ever imagined would happen."

Lisa snorted. "What, you mean being part of a rag-tag band of soldiers, mercenaries, assorted scum of the galaxy that are all that make up the thin line between life and the horde of mechanical abominations intent on ending it all? I don't think any of us imagined this."

"Point." Maiena lifted her glass. "Here's to us, then: the thin line."

Susan brought her glass up with the others. "The thin line."


	28. Noverian Welcome

Susan woke up when Elijah climbed out of bed and padded over to the little bathroom. She sat up, rubbed her eyes in the darkness, and sat on the bed's edge while the sound of pneumatic hissing followed by the faucet came through the lit doorway. Elijah came back out and paused in the door as he saw Susan.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Yes, but it's alright."

He sat down next to her. "That asari brandy packs a surprising punch."

"Kind of like the asari themselves."

"True enough."

Susan shifted. "What you said earlier in the mess hall…"

He took hold of her right hand and brought it to his lips. His breath tickled the back of her knuckles, and she felt her pulse quicken. "Yes, I meant it."

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Peace! I will stop your mouth." He leaned in, kissed her, and suddenly the conversation didn't seem so important. He broke away with an impish grin and caressed her face. "I've wanted to use that line ever since reading it." His face grew still, earnest. "You are the best thing that's happened to me."

Susan smiled sadly and embraced him. "I just wish it wasn't happening during this war."

"We probably wouldn't have ever met if not for this war." He looked down at her sudden frown. "I'm not saying this war is a good thing. But… we've seen so much loss, so much tragedy; I'm willing to embrace anything good that comes out of it."

"Mm, good choice of words," she said as his arms wrapped around her.

"I know you don't like to think about making plans for after the war," Elijah said.

"You're right." Susan caressed his face, ran her thumb over his cheek. "Don't worry; this isn't a wartime fling to be discarded like a thermal clip." She grinned. "Your sense of propriety will remain intact."

Elijah returned her grin. "I'm glad to hear it." He looked at the expression on her face. "You look thoughtful."

"Just thinking about something Akitaiko told me earlier."

"'Psycho Taiko's here?"

"He is. I had a… strange conversation with him earlier."

"I wonder what he's doing here." Elijah shifted and sighed. "I guess there's not much of an N7 program these days."

"I guess not," Susan said. She wondered what had happened to the N-School; how long it had held out, if the Reapers had detailed one of their capital ships to casually obliterate it. Susan lay back down, releasing a sigh. "We need everybody who can fight anyways. Speaking of which, I'm going back to sleep." She wriggled into the abominably thin blanket. "No doubt the next crisis will strike soon."

* * *

The squad's omni-tools trilled simultaneously in the middle of breakfast. Susan groaned as she looked down at her half-finished food before bringing up the omni-tool to check her messages.

"Sector Two, Briefing Room Eight?" Lisa said to the others.

"Yeah." Susan looked down, made a decision, and snatched up her as-yet untouched waffle as they hustled out of the mess hall. She felt confident she could finish it before reaching the briefing room, and if not, well, she didn't care.

She was right, but only just. The Marine guard at the hatch to Intel Sector Two was able to keep the smile from his mouth; he wasn't able to keep it from his eyes at the sight of the N7 dressed in asari commando leathers with half a waffle sticking out of her mouth as she presented her ID. "Go ahead, ma'am."

"I wonder who's doing mission control now," Maiena said as they walked the length of the corridor together.

Elijah reached for the door control. "Let's find out." He led the way into the room, then stiffened to attention and saluted. "Sir!"

Commander Akitaiko looked up from the data pad in his hand. "At ease. I see its Lieutenant now, Mr. Wu. Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir."

Akitaiko looked over the rest of the squad as they filed in after Elijah. He raised his eyebrows fractionally as he saw Susan's outfit. "Joining the commandos?"

"Procurement was out of Alliance uniforms, sir."

"That figures." Akitaiko rolled his eyes. "They'll be the death of us." He turned towards the other two. "Lieutenant Marx, Huntress K'Thane. I'm Commander Ryuji Akitaiko."

"We've heard of you, sir," Marx said as she saluted. Maiena nodded respectfully.

"From these two?" Akitaiko stood up from behind the desk in the center of the room and set his data pad down. "Your records show you've run a number of operations together."

"Yes sir."

"I'm sorry about Captain Banafsheh. I'll be taking over some of her previous duties, which includes functioning as mission control. Obviously none of you need babysitting, so I'll try to be as hands-off as possible. However, I'll say up-front that I've spent a long time training prospective N7s, and some habits die hard. If you ever feel I'm… micromanaging, come talk to me. Fair enough?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Be seated; let's get right to it." Akitaiko activated the projector on the table as the squad took seats. An icy blue orb of light sprang into existence before them. "I'm sorry to have to throw you right back into the thick of it so soon after Thessia, but you can imagine, we're stretched pretty thin."

Maiena cocked her head. "Is that Noveria?"

"Correct. Historically… problematic when it comes to law enforcement and intervention."

The squad nodded; the Noveria Development Corporation, the practical owners of the planet, was notorious for its fierce stances on privacy and extraterritoriality. If there was a planet in Council space where _any_ kind of technological or biological research could occur without the red tape of formal regulation and oversight, Noveria was it.

"What's its status now?"

"Contested." Akitaiko tapped at his data pad briefly and a collage of color-coded icons dappled the planet's surface. Susan took in the disposition of allied forces concentrated around ports and facilities, the scattering of Reaper forces around the globe, and an alarming number of Cerberus icons, also concentrated in several points.

"That's… putting it mildly, sir," she said.

"It gets better." The Commander tapped several more controls and more scattered icons painted the planetary display.

Elijah frowned. "Geth forces?"

"And not the friendly sort either."

"Hmm. During integration meetings the geth _have _mentioned they believe there are still remnants of what they call 'Heretics,' some faction that worships the Reapers. We still aren't sure if they meant indoctrination or not."

"We'll leave that particular issue for the cyber-philosophers. We're deploying several teams to Noveria in response to a groundside call for reinforcements. It turns out Cerberus has quite a presence planetside in the form of corporate holdings and labs, through various fronts and dummy corporations.

"While they've been a thorn in our side there since the beginning of the war, Cerberus has stepped up activity over the past week. Communications with the surface are spotty at best given the amount of electronic warfare happening all the time, so we don't have many details. That'll be one of your responsibilities: find out what's going on down there."

"What's the distribution of friendlies on the ground, sir?"

"That I know of? Some elements of the Engineering Corps, Reconnaissance Units from the 103rd Marine Division, several STG units doing who knows what, and some colonial militia group from Feros."

Maiena raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I know, it sounds odd, but this group has been surprisingly effective. They've pulled off operations that would challenge a squad of asari commandos."

"Interesting. I hope we meet them."

"No guarantees. The majority of our forces are holding down Port Hanshan, what passes for the planetary capital. Several other concentrations are located at Peaks Three and Nine. We still don't know exactly where you'll be deploying. Any questions?"

"Yes sir," Elijah said. "How did you manage to get off Earth?"

Akitaiko grinned bitterly. "By the simple expedient of not being there when the Reapers hit. I was running a group of N7 trainees through combat ops in the Terminus Systems."

"How long will we be on Noveria, sir?" Lisa asked.

"I'm afraid I can't give you an answer to that one, Lieutenant. We don't even know what we're going into."

"No problem, sir. It'll be just like a stay at a luxurious ski resort."

Akitaiko narrowed his eyes for a moment, then grunted. "Pack warmly. Be at Docking Bay Six in three hours. Make sure you requisition your authorized equipment: I understand much of it was lost with the _Antietam_."

"What ship are we on, sir?" Susan said.

"The _Salvador_. You're familiar with it." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, sir."

Akitaiko nodded at them and returned his attention to his data pad. "Dismissed."

* * *

"That looks like it was a close call," Elijah said as Susan held up her hood.

She peered through the bullet hole at him. "It was. That doesn't look too good either."

"This?" He held up the back plate in his hands; a blistered furrow ran diagonally across it. "Didn't penetrate. You've given me worse, actually."

"What?!" Maletha'Vael's head popped up from the workbench she'd been sitting at.

"Oh _really_?" Lisa said, looking up from her own scuffed armor.

"I was talking about the time she punched me," Elijah said.

Lisa grinned. "Sure you were."

"Is that a normal thing with human courtships?" Maletha said.

"You'd be surprised," Lisa said as she finished scrubbing the last bit of mud out of the knee plate in her armor. "Good as… old and busted."

She sighed as she placed the knee plate where it belonged in her suit, which lay assembled on the table before her. Seven hours after their departure from the Lair, the operatives had taken turns in the _Salvador_'s armory. This was their first opportunity since Thessia to maintain and repair their equipment.

"The scars add character," Elijah said as he examined his faceplate. "I wonder when this happened…" A vertical slash ran from where his right eye would be down to the chin.

"Who knows? Plenty of scars to go around for everybody."

"True enough."

Susan smiled as the others bantered and she lost herself in the methodical work of maintaining her equipment. The scratch of the brush against her armor surfaces was a litany of quiet occupation. It shut out the looming reality of the war, reduced it down to stiff bristles scouring shaped plates free of dirt, grime, and blood. If only everything was so simple.

She started as Elijah touched her shoulder. "We're finished here," he said. Susan looked around; she'd lost track of time and the others were done, assembled at the door. "We're going to go get food. You?"

"Go ahead."

"You sure? I can stay here."

"I appreciate it, but no need." Susan smiled. "I've kind of missed this actually, the maintenance."

"That's cause you're weird," Lisa said.

"Really, go ahead. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Alright. We'll save you any chocolate we find."

"You'd better," Susan said as the others left the armory. She turned back to her Suppressor, disassembled it, and picked up a small gun brush.

* * *

The only one Susan recognized in the mess when she arrived was Commander Akitaiko. The special forces trainer sat at a table alone with a transparent glass container shaped like an hourglass before him. He was currently in the process of pouring water from a chromed, swan-necked kettle into the cloth filter set in the top half. The aroma of freshly ground coffee beans filled the air. She realized the whole contraption sat on top of a small digital scale, as Akitaiko stared down at its little readout while he poured. Susan stayed silent; she'd seen snipers sighting in on their targets with less focus and intensity.

Akitaiko looked up once he finished pouring. "Lieutenant Rizzi. May I offer you a cup?"

"Um, yes sir, thank you."

He poured the freshly brewed coffee into a prepared mug before reaching down into the bag sitting next to the scale. Akitaiko drew out a small grinder and a bag of beans. Susan waited while he laboriously repeated the process of measuring and grinding.

"This is very good, sir," she said after taking a sip. "Elij- Lieutenant Wu said you were very discerning about your coffee."

"If you're going to do something, do it right." Akitaiko glanced at her as he boiled water. "What's your impression of Lieutenant Marx?"

"Sir?"

"She was a prospective N7 before the Reapers hit. Still is, if there's a program after the war. I've read Banafsheh's mission reports. I'd like to get your read on her."

"Lisa is a friend. She's a good soldier, sir. A tad… irreverent sometimes, but I trust her with my life."

"N7 material?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmm." Akitaiko picked up his kettle and started pouring. "What about Huntress K'Thane? Some of Banafsheh's earlier reports indicate some friction with the team. Has that been resolved?"

"I think so. Actually, Marx was the one who… got her engaged."

"I see. Do you trust her?"

"Yes I do. Sir, is there a point to this?"

"Relax, Lieutenant. I'm just trying to get a feel for the team. What about the geth platforms? You've deployed with some of them; do you think they'll be a problem if we end up facing this renegade faction?"

"I… honestly, I don't know. I haven't seen anything to make me doubt them, and I guess for them it'd be like us facing Cerberus units, right? We know they're indoctrinated. Perhaps the… _our_ geth feel the same way."

Perhaps they do. We'll see. In any case, it'd be a relief to work with a solid unit. Banafsheh was always the lucky one when it came to overseeing functional individuals."

Susan wasn't sure if she agreed with _that_ particular assessment, but kept it to herself. Instead she said, "Sir, if I may ask, what was your relationship with Captain Banafsheh? You… it seemed like you knew her back on the Lair."

"You can ask, Lieutenant."

Susan took the hint. "Right. Thanks for the coffee, sir."

Akitaiko nodded to her and she turned away to go find the others.

* * *

Nine hours later, the _Salvador_'s CIC hummed with the electric buzzes and pings of consoles as Susan stepped through the hatchway. Elijah followed a step behind her with Maletha and Murder Machine. She saw Lisa, Maiena, and Felix already gathered around the primary display. Akitaiko stood at the head of the display, hands clasped at the small of his back.

The display itself showed the space around Noveria; the planet hovered in the center, awash with icons depicting known force dispositions on the ground. More icons hung in the surrounding space. Several allied squadrons of human, turian, and asari vessels orbited the planet opposite a single larger formation of Cerberus vessels. Further out floated a small geth flotilla of mixed frigates and cruisers. Naval tactics were not Susan's specialty, but she thought their position indicated a standoff against both the allies and Cerberus.

"We're about twenty minutes from Noveria orbit," Akitaiko said. "We have some more information about forces on the ground. Engineer squads at Peak Three and the 103rd at Peak Nine are calling for reinforcements. Warrant Officer Kerranus, you'll take Engineer Vael and the geth to Peak Three. Lieutenant Wu, your squad will take Peak Nine."

"Yes, sir. Do we know anything more about the mission?"

"The Engineer Corps is dismantling some sort of Cerberus research project, possibly AI related."

"Like… geth?" Maletha said.

"No idea. Peak Nine is currently held by Cerberus units. The 103rd haven't been able to break through their defenses and they're also under sporadic attack from a hitherto unknown force. Given the forces in orbit, it's a safe bet _those _are geth."

"We never seem to finish fighting them," Susan said. She glanced aside at Murder Machine's black and green platform. "Present company excluded, of course."

The geth tilted its head towards her in a half-nod. "The schism runs deeper than we had hoped. Armed conflict is a regrettable but necessary course of events given Old Machine intentions."

Akitaiko nodded. "Communications are still unreliable. Your standing orders are to make contact with forces on the ground and assist them with whatever needs to be done. Within reason, of course. Nobody's expecting you to singlehandedly win the war down there."

"So don't get too comfortable with the great weather?" Lisa said.

"No guarantees, Lieutenant. Get your gear and get to the shuttles. We're going to try for immediate insertion once we hit orbit; maintain the element of surprise as much as possible."

Elijah saluted. "Yes, sir."

"Godspeed, and good luck."

* * *

Service Chief Jason Reyes watched as the countdown flickered to zero in his HUD and engaged the shuttle's throttle. "We're on the way," he called back to the team in his passenger bay. Reyes nudged the controls gently as his controls reported another imbalance in thrust output. That starboard engine just hadn't been the same since Otte…

He frowned as he took in the sensor readings of their destination zone; the current temperature was a biting minus fourteen degrees. Just thinking about it made him shiver in his seat. _Poor bastards_, he thought regarding the Special Ops team he ferried. _I'd hate to be the one stuck down there_.

In the passenger compartment, Susan finished buckling on her left leg piece. While her armor exterior was still scuffed and scarred, at least she had a clean undersuit. She looked to her right to see Elijah adjusting the position of the scabbard on his back. Across from her, Maiena tugged on the neck of her fitted armor suit as Lisa checked the scope on her Widow.

"You okay?" Susan said as she finished her gear checks.

Maiena nodded. "I hadn't realized how used I'd gotten to the lightweight suit. This thing feels so cumbersome in comparison."

"But it's environmentally sealed."

"Yes." She smiled. "I'm not so vain as to walk around on Noveria in just leathers."

"I never thought I'd walk around on Noveria, period," Susan said. "They were so… insular."

"You mean paranoid?" Elijah said.

"Well, that too."

"Did you know they're supposed to have some of the best ski resorts here?" Lisa said. "Private ones for the corporate execs and stuff."

"Hardly surprising," said Susan as the shuttle rocked gently.

"We just entered the atmosphere," Chief Reyes said. "Getting warnings about AA coverage. Hitting the deck." The hum of the shuttle's engines changed pitch.

"You ever notice how we go to the prettiest places and cause havoc?" Lisa said. "Nevos, Thessia, now Noveria…"

"We left the Citadel in one piece," Maiena said.

"Minus a crate of peaches, courtesy of Susan."

"Hey!"

"What? It all worked out. Anyways, I'm just saying… maybe it'd be nice to visit some of these places without all the shooty-death-kill, huh?"

"That'd be nice," Elijah said. He looked at Susan, smiled, and-

"ETA two minutes," Reyes said.

The squad locked helmets and faceplates into place; Maiena's looked like it had been repurposed from the Armiger legion. "You guys can hit the slopes," Susan said, looking at the screen in the passenger compartment. "If I'm in a place like this, I'd rather curl up in front of a fire with some hot choc-"

A warbling screech cut her off. "Missile lock!" Reyes called. "Brace for evasive!"

Susan threw herself against the seat back and reached for the safety straps, buckling herself in. The warbling tone continued and she felt the lurch of sudden maneuvers through the shuttle's inertial dampeners. The pitch of the engines rose to a fierce scream as Reyes put the shuttle through a hard bank.

A different alarm started pinging as Reyes shouted "No, not now!"

The shuttle lurched to starboard and made Susan grateful for her helmet as the back of her head cracked off the bulkhead above her seat. A half-second later a hollow bang echoed through the compartment as the shuttle rocked. A second explosion sounded and rocked the shuttle harder. The seconds ticked by like hours as Reyes struggled with the shuttle, cursing all the while.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Shuttle One. We are hit and going down. Repeat, Shuttle One is hit and going down," Reyes reported to the _Salvador_. Then, "Brace for impact!"

The shuttle hit the ground with a juddering impact, bounced twice; shaking all the way like some deific bartender was using it to mix a drink. Susan thought her spine would vibrate right out of her body. The interior lights flickered on and off like a strobe light while a roaring, scraping, crunch reverberated through her ears. Finally the shaking and grinding stopped.

"Everybody okay?" Rizzi called in the darkness.

"I'm unhurt," Wu said.

"Same here," K'Thane added. "Ready to move.

"That was fun," said Marx. "Let's not do it again."

Rizzi unstrapped herself and stepped into the cockpit. "Chief? You hurt?"

Reyes' face was pale in the orange lighting thrown off by the bank of consoles before him. "I think my arm's broken." He pointed to his left arm, hanging limp at an unnatural angle.

"Yeah." Rizzi stepped over and looked it over; his suit reported no bleeding. "This is a dislocated elbow. Okay, this is going to hurt." Reaching out, she worked it gently back into place. Reyes' scream filled the shuttle. He screamed again as Rizzi interfaced with his suit system to tighten and lock his suit arm in place, creating an impromptu splint.

"How is he?" Marx said, poking her head into the cockpit.

"Dislocated elbow, but he'll live." A sudden cold gust filled the shuttle as Wu opened the side door. Rizzi grabbed Reyes' helmet and locked it in place. "Stay here; let us clear the area."

"No arguments from me, Lieutenant." Reyes sagged down against his seat.

Rizzi and Marx left the cockpit and joined Wu and K'Thane outside the crashed shuttle. Pale sunlight reflected off the glittering snow around them. The shuttle had carved a furrow of melted snow nearly half a kilometer long, now rapidly hardening to sleet. Steam hissed off the mangled shuttle hull as flakes of snow thrown up by the impact drifted down slowly. She saw that something had destroyed their right engines, leaving it a twisted ruin of metal. Despite her environmentally sealed armor, she still felt the cold seep in like dull razors running over her skin.

Rizzi saw the shuttle had crashed into a slope angling up towards a peak looming over them. She thought she saw hints of metal structures built into the apex. Splotches of dark brown and gray land broke up the tracts of shining white.

"Any sign of what brought us down?" she said, struggling through the knee-deep snow.

"No." Wu panned his weapon over the frozen landscape as he checked in all directions. "We're pretty much in the middle of nowhere. No idea where that came from."

"Now what? I'm not keen to try climbing up that peak."

"It's in enemy hands too, remember?"

"Minor detail."

"I've activated the distress beacon," Reyes interjected. "Any friendlies in the vicinity should have our location soon."

"As well as any _un_friendlies," K'Thane said. "We should stay alert. Whoever shot us down may come looking to finish the job."

"Agreed." Marx looked around before pointing to a rocky outcropping some twenty meters uphill from the shuttle. "I'll make a dugout up there." She pointed out some other rocks jutting through the snow a little distance away. "We should position ourselves at those points; better cover than snow and they form a bit of a perimeter."

"I think you're all forgetting the side turret," Reyes said. "Let me see if it still… there we go." With a whine of struggling hydraulics the side turret deployed from its recessed nook, twin barrels stabbing outwards from the shuttle. "Alright, the guns should be fine, but no telling how long the turret itself stays powered."

"Let's hope we don't need it," K'Thane said as she shoved through the snow towards the turret.

* * *

"We're gonna need that turret," Marx said nearly fifteen minutes later. Rizzi, crouched behind some frozen rocks, shivered as she raised her head over them and scanned the horizon once more. Gathering clouds in the distance, dark and looming, spoke of approaching ill weather. "Coming up from the southeast."

There – a small dot, growing rapidly. Rizzi zoomed in with her helmet's magnifiers, and saw a hovering vehicle soaring towards them, a spray of snow behind it. The silhouette resembled a wasp in flight, which meant-

"Looks like a geth craft." Rizzi adjusted her stance, scowled at her Suppressor. It wouldn't do much against an APC analogue.

"Wait," Wu said. "We don't know for sure if these geth are hostile or not."

"Let's find out." Rizzi opened a general broadcast channel. "Approaching vessel, identify yourself and your intentions."

She threw herself down as a cannon shot streaked towards her from the approaching vessel and vaporized a patch of snow to her right and sent a plume of steam into the air. A second shot bracketed her left.

"Right, then." Marx loosed a shot, the only one with a personal weapon effective at that range. Rizzi looked up again; the geth craft had stopped approaching. It was still far enough she could eclipse it with a fingertip.

She growled as more shots screamed in with no way for her to respond. The shuttle's turret ripped out a rattling burst towards the distant enemy. The geth transport switched targets; two shots sizzled into the shuttle hull, destroying the left engine and scarring the prow armor.

The chatter of the turret cut out abruptly, followed by K'Thane's cursing. "Turret's seized up!" she called. She loosed one last futile burst from the immobile turret as the geth skimmer zipped out of her line of fire. Its return shot seared past her into the open compartment and obliterated the chair she'd been sitting on for the trip down. Sparks showered as systems inside detonated. Another shot hammered the shuttle's armor.

"That thing's just going to sit out of range and take us apart slowly!" Rizzi yelled as K'Thane scooted into the cockpit and grabbed Reyes. She pulled him by the uninjured arm; the pilot groaned in pain nonetheless. K'Thane dragged him away from ruined shuttle as more shots streaked into it; their only consolation was all the steam obscuring them as she ran for the closest rock outcropping.

Marx's return fire felt pitifully inadequate. Another pair of shots lanced into the rocks she'd used for her dugout. The rhythmic sniper fire stopped.

"Marx?" Rizzi said. No response. "Marx!" Her armor systems weren't reporting any injuries… knocked unconscious? Yet another shot crackled past her and she snarled, popped up, and squeezed off several shots from her pistol at the strafing geth craft in vain fury.

"Fall back to Marx's position," Wu said. "I'm no marksman, but that Widow's the only thing we've got to fight back with."

Rizzi looked back towards the outcropping; her HUD showed Marx's sprawled form as a blue outline through the haze of steam and fog. "Alright. I'll cover you."

She knew it was an empty promise, but it was all she could do. She swung her Suppressor up over the rocks. Her HUD reported three more shots remaining in the thermal clip. She sighted in on the hovering wasp-like vehicle in the distance and released a breath. "Go!"

She pressed the trigger three times in less than a second as Wu started bounding through the snow. An explosion rocked the geth vehicle. Rizzi was halfway through inserting a new thermal clip before her mind registered it. She sighted back in on the geth vehicle as it spun away from the shuttle crash; a second explosion engulfed it in smoke and fog. The geth vessel was retreating at speed when the smoke cleared, a rapidly diminishing blip.

Rizzi scanned the landscape; there was no way her pistol shots had done that. A rising cloud of churned snow heralded a boxy tracked vehicle approaching from the east, making its way around the curve of the peak. It followed the trail plowed by their shuttle.

"Shuttle One, say your status," a male voice crackled over the comms. "Friendlies inbound."

Rizzi's HUD blinked with IFF confirmations as it drew a blue outline around the approaching cargo hauler, identifying it as the transmission source. The blocky, tractor-like truck closed the distance with surprising speed. She looked back at the crash, at Wu beyond it heading for Marx, at K'Thane and Reyes off to the side.

"Thanks for the save," she replied. "The shuttle's done for. We have five here, two wounded."

"Who's wounded?" Marx said. Rizzi looked up again to see the Infiltrator's outline climbing to her feet.

"I thought you were."

"No holes, nothing broken. I'll be fine. What'd I miss?"

"Reinforcements." The transport trundled up to the ruined shuttle, a rectangular box over two meters tall, with generous clearance for its treads. Up close, Rizzi saw it had once sported the Noveria Development Corporation logo, along with a vibrant orange color. Somebody had coated it with a splotchy layer of white paint in an effort to make it less conspicuous against the snow. The control cabin windows had similarly been covered with metal grills, obscuring its occupants. With a grinding whirr, the ramp in the rear of the box-like transport lowered to the snow.

A trio of figures completely swathed in assorted cold-weather gear ran out and formed a perimeter, beckoning the squad towards the transport as they scanned the icy distance. Two carried Vindicators and the third a Mantis, but Rizzi saw they wore a hodgepodge of civilian designs and brands for clothes. A fourth figure slipped out of the transport, hood over an enclosed mask and goggles, missile launcher slung over one shoulder.

"We should get moving," a female voice said. The bundled figure with the missile launcher gestured towards the distance. "We've driven them off half a dozen times now, but we haven't been able to pin that thing down and kill it yet. We don't want to be here if they return."

"Agreed," Rizzi said. She headed for Reyes to help him to the transport while K'Thane moved over to Marx, approaching from her dugout.

Wu jogged to the shuttle. "I'll set charges," he said as he vanished into the smoking interior.

Reyes staggered up the ramp into the transport as Marx and K'Thane moved past the shuttle. Marx's armor sported a new host of scratches and scars, but she moved with a surety that belied serious injury. They slipped up the ramp into the transport with nods to their rescuers.

The trio of friendly soldiers fell back to the transport; despite their mismatched clothing, Rizzi saw they moved with a coordination that put many veterans to shame. There was something about their positioning, the way they moved, that made Rizzi think the woman with the missile launcher was the leader.

The one bearing the Mantis rifle nodded Rizzi once and turned to the woman. "That storm is-"

"Moving this way," she finished. The dark clouds were noticeably larger. "We should be-"

"Gone by then." He nodded.

Rizzi blinked at the exchange but turned her attention back to Wu as he emerged from the shuttle and ran over to the transport.

"Timers are set for ten minutes," he said. "We should go."

"Let's move!"

The two N7s trudged up the ramp into the transport. The main compartment had obviously been meant for cargo originally. Unadorned steel comprised the overwhelming majority of the interior. Strips of dented metal had been crudely welded along the length of both sides, creating benches. In the absence of environmental controls, a thin layer of frost coated every exposed surface. In the center of the space, a short ladder had been welded to a roof hatch.

Reyes had taken a seat as far deep in as he could go, and Marx and K'Thane had given him space to nurse his arm. She smiled as K'Thane fussed over Marx. Rizzi and Wu slid down onto the benches as the three soldiers piled in with remarkable coordination, dropping down onto the icy benches in neat intervals – uncannily neat intervals. The one closest to the door reached out and flipped a lever as the leader took her first step onto the ramp – without looking, Rizzi noticed. The leader casually strode up the closing ramp, its grinding gears not quite disguising the crack of ice sleeting off.

The driver gunned the engine the instant the ramp fully closed. The sudden momentum bowled Rizzi into Wu and made Reyes hiss as he jostled his injured arm. She saw that none of the friendly soldiers shifted much; they'd all braced themselves the instant before the transport lurched ahead.

"Thanks for the save," Wu said. He glanced between the soldiers and turned to the missile wielder. "If I may ask; who are you? You're not the 103rd, way you're dressed."

"No, we're not," said the Mantis wielder. "We're part of the-"

"Feros colonial militia," said the leader, her voice muffled by her headgear. K'Thane's helmet turned towards her and cocked at an angle. "The 103rd squad is currently holding down our base of operations and keeping an eye on the peak. We can do proper introductions once we get back."

"Feros is a long ways off," Rizzi said. "What are you doing here?"

"Fighting the Reapers. We fought on Feros too, but…"

"Anyplace the Reapers want, they get," said Wu.

"Yes. We owe a… debt of gratitude to Commander Shepard from several years ago. This is our way of doing what we can to aid him."

Marx snorted. "You and half the galaxy."

"There'll be more information when we return to base," the leader said, and fell silent.

"Talkative bunch, aren't they?" Marx said over a private channel.

"Yeah, there's something about this group that's… off. Keep your eyes open," Rizzi replied.

"What is this base you're referring to?"

"A… corporate facility we repurposed. You'll see when we arrive. For now, let me formally welcome you to Noveria. It's good you're here: things have been heating up the past week."

Rizzi exchanged glances with Marx, brushing a layer of ice off her shin as she did so. "Ha, ha."


	29. Noverian Surprises

Twenty minutes after departing the shuttle crash, Rizzi was thoroughly sick of the freezing, rattling, ear-splitting ride. The constant vibrations from the treaded transport reminded her uncomfortably of the shuttle crash not an hour ago, and the grinding chug of the engine drowned out all other noises. Not that she expected to hear all that much on the frozen peaks of Noveria.

The presumed leader of the Feros militia stood up suddenly and slung her missile launcher onto her back before clambering up the ladder in the center of the compartment and popping halfway through the hatch. Rizzi looked at her curiously; she assumed the trooper was signaling somebody outside, but how had she known?

The transport engine's pitch changed to a lower, slower roar as it decelerated. The transport itself tilted to the left, and then up, as it navigated some curving slope. A minute later, Rizzi felt the transport slew to a halt.

"We're here," the Feros leader said as the transport's ramp lowered. The trio departed in sync, and Rizzi's squad followed with Reyes bringing up the rear. The transport sat inside a spacious parking garage. Two other transports of the same model, bearing the amateur white paint jobs, sat nearby facing the closed metal garage doors. Caked snow on their transport and clothes melted slowly, dripping onto the concrete floor.

"This way," the leader said as the Feros squad moved towards a set of double doors. They led into a short corridor with ribbed steel walls that looked almost like an airlock. The single door at the end slid aside to reveal a cargo elevator large enough to hold them all with ease. The Feros troops moved in and each took a corner, with the leader at the control panel.

The Special Ops team followed and positioned Chief Reyes in their midst. Rizzi read the tenseness in her squad's body language: K'Thane's casually clenched fist, her arm held in such a way that it looked casual to an unfamiliar observer but ready to activate her biotics with a flick, Marx's hand near her Locust, and Wu's stance with his hand ready to go for his sword. The Feros leader tapped one of the control panel buttons and the lift hissed upward smoothly.

The door slid open, revealing an identical short corridor. Still swathed in her face-covering mask and hood, the Feros leader turned to the team and paused at the sight of K'Thane. "Relax. You're safe here."

"Are we?" Rizzi said. "The way you're all behaving-"

"You're afraid we're indoctrinated. I assure you, that's not the case." She took a step back- and all four of the Feros militia shuddered gently, simultaneously twitching their heads. Three of them began doffing their heavy winter clothes, starting with the ski masks and goggles they all wore.

The Mantis wielder, closest to Rizzi, was a beefy-faced man with cropped dark hair. "My name is Ian Newstead."

Rizzi took off her facemask and introduced herself as the others did likewise. The Feros leader, still wearing her mask and hood, froze as K'Thane removed her helm.

"Maiena?" She shoved her hood back and practically tore her goggles off before pulling her ski mask off. Susan blinked at the sight of the asari- the _green_ asari.

"Who-" Maiena's eyes widened. "_Shiala?_ You- you're alive!"

"And green," Lisa said. "I didn't know asari came in lime. Wait, you know each other?"

"What happened to you?" Maiena said. "I thought you were dead after… Benezia and Saren. And why are you _green_?"

"It's a long story," Shiala said. "The abridged version is, there was a… creature on Feros responsible for not only my current color but also our… call it our coordination. I can tell you about it later; for now let's get you all briefed on the immediate situation."

"Is there somewhere we can get Reyes medical attention?" Susan said. "He dislocated his elbow in the crash."

"Oh, yes, of course. This way." Shiala led the way down the corridor and opened the double doors. Susan felt her jaw drop as Elijah let out a low whistle.

"What- where are we?" she said, taking in the sight. They'd stepped into what looked like an alpine castle, if one had been modernized with such amenities as electricity, heating, and glass windows. Hewn stone panels comprised the walls, illuminated by lights crafted as archaic chandeliers. Her boots rang off patterned marble tiles underfoot.

"This was the Ayndroid Group's executive lodge," Shiala said as she led them past a wall of ceiling to glass windows on their left. It offered a breathtaking view of Noveria's icy beauty, a pristine expanse sloping down away from them dotted by ski course markers. The lounge they traversed was approximately fifteen meters by thirty, broken up by luxurious seats and couches, gleaming glass tables, and various artworks and sculptures. The wall opposite the windows boasted a massive fireplace currently crackling with flames and next to it, a long bar carved from a single slab of onyx. Various half-drunk bottles of expensive liquors littered its surface.

"We've been using it as a base of operations," Shiala continued as a soldier in the uniform of the 103rd moved past them, attention focused on his data pad. "It's certainly out of the norm for all of us, but I believe it's been beneficial to morale."

Maiena smiled at Lisa. "Looks like you get that resort visit after all."

"Cerberus and geth were not invited when I imagined it."

"We found an infirmary here, surprisingly well stocked," Shiala said, leading them towards a set of double doors carved from dark wood.

"Yeah, gotta look out for those execs spraining themselves on the slopes," Lisa said.

The doors opened into a hallway decorated in the same ostentatious manner. Shiala walked up to an intersecting corridor and halted. "Ian, would you please bring the pilot to Hollis and Corpsman Ballard? The rest of you, please follow me. We should get you up to speed on the situation here."

Ian and Reyes took the side hallway while Shiala led the squad straight on, through another observation gallery, then deeper into the lodge to a room that looked completely out of place among the decorative opulence of the place. A state-of-the-art communications center sat entombed behind security doors the equal of any Susan had seen in the Systems Alliance. Various consoles and screens thrummed with data. Even here, nods had been given to aesthetic sense in the form of glossed panels and paintings hung on the walls.

A Marine wearing the insignia of the 103rd Marine Division stood at the conference table in the middle of the room, nursing a steaming mug. Exhaustion lined his dark face. Two other Marines sat together at a console, conversing quietly as they examined a display of what Susan thought was the Peak above them.

He looked up as the squad entered the room. "Shiala, thanks for bringing them in." Then, turning to the squad he said, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Caleb Hearns. Welcome to Firebase Luxury."

"Aptly named," Susan said before making introductions. "What's your situation here?"

Hearns stepped over to the display and motioned for them to gather around. "Stalemated. This is Peak Nine. Records show it was leased out to the Ayndroid Group for research, development, and manufacture of undisclosed projects. Now either they were working for Cerberus or they were working on something that interested Cerberus, because several units swept in and fortified the place."

He pointed out several points on the display. The structure in question had been built into the peak but protruded in several spots, hexagonal pods jutting from the stone and snow. The primary entrance sat in a natural gap, sticking out like an ancient sailing vessel slicing through fog. Two roads cut upwards along the sharp peak to a heavily reinforced portal.

"Is that the only entrance?" Wu said.

"That we're aware of. To give you an idea of the scale, this structure here is about twenty meters tall. You can see the approach: uphill, in the open. We're not getting through that with anything short of an armored battalion."

"What's the tally of friendly forces here?" Susan said.

"We're about platoon-strength here," Hearns replied. "Four squads; we keep two on patrol and two in reserve here at the lodge. Used to be three out, one in reserve, but there's another group of enemies running around out there now. They haven't engaged us in force, and we're not even sure exactly who they are."

"They're geth," Lisa said. "Got a pretty good look at their vehicle while it was shooting at us."

"Geth? I thought they were friendly now?"

Elijah shook his head. "They've told us there's still a faction out there that worships the Reapers. There's currently a geth fleet in the system, and given their positioning I'd say we're looking at these so-called 'Heretics.'"

"Just what we needed," Hearns said. He rubbed his left temple with his fingertips. "Anyways, we also have a dozen members of the Feros militia." He gestured to Shiala, still standing in the doorway. "They've been invaluable in running patrols, doing reconnaissance, light infantry work like that."

"You mentioned a stalemate," Rizzi said. "What did you mean?"

"Part of it is that we can't get into that facility, but they can't wipe us out either. This lodge actually has near-military grade kinetic barriers. From what we've seen of their forces, this group of Cerberus wasn't expecting heavy resistance. We beat off several attacks with no problem."

"And the other part?"

"Their objective within the peak. Four days ago they landed a small freighter within the compound." He pointed to another area on the display. "You can see this large structure at the top; it functions as a hangar. We moved up an AA battery in response. Again, we can't get in, but they can't get out with whatever it is they want in there."

"There's no other way in?"

"Theoretically, you could get in through one of those parts sticking out of the peak." Hearns jabbed a finger at one of the hexagonal pods. "You'd need enough demolitions to alert everybody inside though, not to mention making the same open approach."

"Hmm." Susan looked closer at the layout of Peak Nine. "Can we get closer during the night?"

"Not up to the front door," Hearns said. "We could get to one of the pods lower down here, but like I said, no practical way to get in."

"What are you thinking?" Maiena said to Susan, seeing her expression.

"I've got an idea."

* * *

Hearns wasn't exactly convinced, but in lieu of any better options he consented and gave orders to the 103rd squads in the fields, to be enacted come nightfall. With several hours of daylight left, Hearns gave the squad free rein of the lodge.

Shiala stepped in front of Maiena as they filed out of the impromptu command center. "Can we talk? It's been several years; I'd like to hear how you've been, and to explain about… this." She held up one green-skinned hand, and then placed it gently on Maiena's arm.

Maiena reached up and took Shiala's hand. "I thought you were dead," she said quietly.

"I nearly was. It's been… an _interesting_ few years for me."

Lisa snorted. "Yeah, you and the rest of the galaxy. Ongoing Reaper invasion, remember?"

Maiena turned to the others. "Could you give us some privacy, please? I'll find you later."

"Fine." Lisa shot a glance at Shiala before leaving the room, stalking towards the outer lounges.

"We'll see you later," Susan said as she and Elijah likewise gave the two asari a chance to reunite.

"Thank you."

They caught up with Lisa in the first observation lounge they'd past. She stared out at the white expanse outside while fiddling with her Locust. Susan stepped up behind her. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she said without turning around.

"Lisa…"

"What? It's obvious they have some history together. We don't. We're…. squaddies with benefits."

"If you really believed that," Elijah said, "you wouldn't be acting this way."

"Lisa, Maiena cares about-"

"It doesn't matter," Lisa said. "It's not important right now. We have a job to do, and I'll do it. End of story."

"Lisa, it's okay to have feelings."

"I _said_, I'm _fine._"

Susan crossed her arms. "Who are you mad at here?"

"You, for pushing me." Lisa closed her eyes for a moment before turning around. "Sorry. Mostly myself, for letting it get to me."

"If you want to talk about it, we're here."

"I appreciate it, but right now I'd…"

"Rather be alone?"

Lisa nodded.

"Alright."

"If you need anything," Elijah said, "just let us know."

"Thanks. Don't worry; this won't affect my mission performance."

"Not what I meant."

Lisa gave him a sad grin. "Well aren't you different from before. Look, I'll be fine, really. You two go… enjoy yourselves in the lap of luxury while you can."

Susan sighed, shook her head, and walked away. She decided to look for somebody saner or failing that, who knew where the food was.

* * *

"So this… Thorian thing is dead, right?" Susan asked as she picked at a plate of rigatoni, béchamel sauce, and prosciutto. Whoever the previous occupants had been, they were fond of pasta. She sat at a table in the lavishly equipped kitchen, which equaled the size of the armory aboard the _Salvatore._

"Yes. We did _quite_ a bit of research into that to be sure," said Lizbeth Baynham. The young human woman from Feros brushed a lock of brown hair out of her face before taking a sip from her mug. Susan and Elijah had met her while looking for food, and she'd shown them to the kitchen and demonstrated some impressive culinary talent. The N7s had taken the opportunity to slake their curiosity about the peculiar behavior of the colonists from the little colony, and Lizbeth had spent the last twenty minutes describing the colony of Zhu's Hope, the ExoGeni Corporation's discovery of the ancient, telepathic, plant-like alien, and their deliberate treatment of the colonists as an experimental group.

"How'd it die?" Elijah said as he speared a noodle from Susan's plate with a gleaming fork. She shot him a mock glare and got an innocent smile in return before he moved elsewhere into kitchen, rummaging through the pristine gray cupboards for mugs.

"Commander Shepard found a central cluster of neural nodes under Zhu's Hope and, well, shot it to bits. Made identifying particular components afterwards quite difficult, let me tell you. But he went out of his way to spare the enthralled colonists, so at least there was still a colony."

Lizbeth paused, took another sip. "The damage was already done, though. The Thorian's spores had already been absorbed into people's systems. People started having headaches and muscle spasms, physical symptoms similar to what they experienced under the Thorian's control. Scared the crap out of us all for a while; we thought it'd come back to life or something. Then people started experiencing some _really_ weird things. Feeling the physical sensations of somebody else nearby, spatial awareness and perception from someone else's perspective, all the way up to full-blown telepathic connections."

"That explains what I saw them doing in the field," Susan said.

"Yes, as time went on most of them learned to… disconnect from others. They had to, to maintain their sanity. It's got undeniable advantages for combat though, so they typically stay linked in the field."

"And where does that asari commando come in?" Elijah said from the water boiler.

"Shiala? That rogue Spectre Saren gave her to the Thorian as some kind of… sacrifice." Lizbeth's face twisted in quiet pain. "She decided to stay after Shepard killed it, try to make amends. Zhu's Hope wouldn't have been the same without her."

Susan stared silently at Lizbeth for a moment. "So what are you doing here? You're not… one of the enthralled."

"No, but I stood by and watched ExoGeni treat these people like lab rats. I have amends of my own to make. It also means I'm the best qualified to monitor their condition, liaise with local units, things like that." She nodded at Susan's plate. "I'm also the best cook out of the bunch. All those combined minds, and not one of them can make a decent pot roast."

"You care about them," Elijah said.

"I do. In the aftermath of the geth attack on Feros, we were the only ones there for one another. Adversity has a way of forging bonds." Lizbeth smiled as Elijah moved to Susan's side and offered her the mug. "Something I suspect I'm seeing right now."

"War is a terrible thing, but it has a strange way of bringing people together sometimes." Susan sniffed the contents of the mug, eyes widening in pleasure. "Hot chocolate?"

"The infirmary isn't the only thing that's stocked here," he said.

"You said you're monitoring their condition. Is it ever a problem in the field? Like one person's wounds bleeding over into the others' senses?"

"Not in the field, no. That's one of the things I monitor for. I imagine part of that could be the effects of adrenaline and endorphins multiplied across them all. Sometimes they have… difficulties disassociating from one another afterwards, but you don't have to worry about their performance on a mission."

"We'll see," Susan said.

"You mentioned that Shiala and this… Maiena know each other from before?" Lizbeth said.

"Certainly seems to be the case." Susan paused, looked at Elijah. "You think Shiala's the one who tried to recruit her for Benezia's cadre?"

"Huh. I wonder…"

"Oh," Lizbeth said. "And they're catching up now?"

"Yes," Elijah said. "They haven't seen each other for a few years, I'm sure they'll want to-" He broke off as Susan slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand. "What?" Susan shook her head briefly at him. He glanced at Lizbeth staring off into space, then nodded and took another bite before sighing. "Okay. I'm just going to go pretend we're all solid professionals about to embark on a risky special operation, and we're in no way dealing with interpersonal drama."

Susan looked at him over her mug, laughed shortly. "Good luck with that."

* * *

The snowstorm threatened by the earlier clouds heralded the onset of night with flurries of white powder, barely visible in the darkening sky. Once the sun had fully set, all three of the converted transports rolled out from the ski lodge and climbed further up the mountain, heading for the peak and its mysterious facilities.

Two of the transports, carrying a 103rd squad and a team from Feros, halted around a bend from the open approach up to the front doors. They met two other transports, the teams already in the field, and the four squads dispersed out, creating a perimeter around the poorly armored tractor trucks. Marines grumbled about the cold as icy winds howled mournfully around the mountain. The Feros team moved with their uncanny silence and coordination.

Rizzi's squad saw none of this, ensconced within the last transport that climbed upwards, bypassing the fortified entrance towards the rocky crags stabbing into the sky beyond. The transport soon ran out of terrain it could traverse, huddled in the shadow of a frozen stone cliff nearly thirty meters tall. The rear ramp cranked downward, depositing the Special Ops team onto the snowy slope.

The armored figures looked up at the cliff, climbing ropes and gear looped over their shoulders, harnesses strapped about their waists and shoulders. "Have I ever mentioned," Marx said, "that I hate your plans sometimes?"

"Frequently," Rizzi replied.

Wu buckled the length of rope to his harness and started up the cliff. The most experienced climber, he took on the responsibility of being first up and setting the anchors. He pulled himself up the stony cliff, hands and feet seeking out crevices and holds. Climbing picks hung from all their harnesses, appropriated from the lodge's equipment stockpile.

The Vanguard scaled the cliff in the darkness, relying on his helmet's low-light amplifiers for vision. At several sections the ice-coated face forced him to rely on the climbing pick, but he made it to the top without any issues. Easing his head over the edge, he checked for enemies and upon seeing their absence he set the final anchor and rolled over the top. A moment later, he looked back over the edge and signaled it clear to the others.

Rizzi followed up the cliff and waited at the top with Wu for K'Thane and Marx, who brought up the rear. She took the opportunity to check out their surroundings from here. The top of the cliff she'd just climbed formed a ledge some twenty meters wide before sweeping upwards into another sheer cliff. Panning her gaze around, she saw the glint of metal off to the right. The cliff ledge curved away in that direction. She tapped Wu on the shoulder and pointed towards it.

"Let's check that first," she said via external broadcast. This close to the enemy stronghold, none of them wanted to risk having transmissions detected. "I'd rather not climb another cliff if we don't have to."

"Good idea." Wu kept a watch out as Rizzi helped K'Thane and then Marx up over the edge.

The squad navigated the bend, keeping low as they circled around to see the side of one of the facility sections jutting from the mountainside – across a ten meter gap.

"You want to try Charging across with a rope?" Marx said.

"Doesn't work that way," Wu replied. "I'd bounce off; break every bone in my body."

"And fall," K'Thane said. She looked down the gap and pointed. "Actually, that's our way in."

Five meters below them ran a metal tunnel across the gap, barely visible through the layers of snow crusted across it. With another piton and a length of their spare rope, they lowered themselves down and cleared some of the snow. Marx crouched down and ran her omni-tool over the metal. "There's a layer of vacuum insulation, and then… looks like open space below."

"Good," Susan said. "It'd be bad if we went into a gas line or something. You should all step back now."

The others moved back against the cliff wall as Rizzi activated her Annihilation Field. She crouched down, thought back to Otte, and consciously forced herself to go against her Fury training again. Shuddering with the effort, Rizzi shaped her biotic aura and fanned it downwards.

The tunnel roof groaned and shrieked as her Field slowly dissolved through it. She nearly lost her focus as she dropped downwards a half-meter and landed on the inner ceiling with a dull _thunk_. Winds buffeted her as air rushed in to fill the layer of vacuum insulating the facility interior from Noveria's climate. Distracted, her aura snapped back to its conditioned state, and she spent another moment wrangling it back to her wishes.

The inner layer dissolved even faster, sparks flying as she ate through electronics, and she dropped down into the corridor into a roll, amid a flurry of disintegrating shards and errant snow. She dismissed the Annihilation Field and came up, weapon leading the way, as she checked both ends of the corridor. Except for the section she'd dissolved through, light panels in the ceiling revealed cold gray wall panels and a grilled metal floor.

"Clear!"

Wu dropped into the corridor, hand on his sword hilt. K'Thane swung herself down and landed on her feet like she was merely stepping off a shuttle. Another impact sounded, jolting snow and metal fragments, and Marx flickered back to visibility partway down the corridor, submachine gun extended.

"Alright, let's locate a computer system and get a layout of this facility." Rizzi looked up and down the corridor; both ways ended in nondescript intersections. "Marx, can you track any active power lines?"

"On it." The Infiltrator's armor systems possessed more extensive sensor and electronic countermeasure suites, to better exploit its cloaking system. Interfaced through her omni-tool, Marx set her HUD to display active power signatures in proximity and panned her head around. Snow drifted down through the hold Rizzi had made, melting in the controlled temperature. She motioned towards one end of the corridor with two fingers. "Let's check that way," she said. Then, when the squad started moving, "Stay frosty."

Rizzi groaned quietly. "I hate you."

* * *

Following Marx's electric tracking, they stole through the drab corridors seeking an active computer and wary of enemy contact. Marx led them to a locked silver door emblazoned with the Ayndroid Group's logo. A few moments with her hacking program let them into a utilitarian office, sparsely decorated in the time-honored tradition of corporate placards and generic art prints. She stepped around the L-shaped desk in the corner to the computer while Wu and K'Thane kept a watch at the door.

Rizzi moved over to a bookshelf, looking for some hint of what Cerberus was interested in here. From their contents, she guessed this office had belonged to an engineer. Volumes of electronics references, engineering manuals, and academic publications filled the rows. She took a closer look; several of the volumes dealt with mechanical limbs and locomotion. No surprise, from a corporation named the _Ayndroid_ Group.

"They didn't lock the system down when they took control," Marx said. "Sloppy."

"They _are_ indoctrinated," Rizzi said. "That can't do any good for their powers of thought and initiative."

"True enough." Marx continued typing for a minute. "Hang on, I've got it." The screen switched to a display of the internal layout. "Who the hell designed this place?" she said, looking at the tangled warrens of corridors and little rooms in the upper section and the large chambers in the lower. She plugged her omni-tool into the system and downloaded the map; the squad each took turns doing so. "You want to go for the entrance?"

"No." Rizzi tapped another point on the map. "Let's hit the power first. Hopefully that'll draw them away from the entrance."

"That'll make it harder to link up with the teams."

"It makes it more likely the teams will survive to link up with," Rizzi replied. She cocked her head at Marx.

"Don't worry," she said, holding her hands up. "I'm not looking to pull a Uriah here. We've just had plenty of nasty surprises from Cerberus before."

"Let's move," Rizzi said. Wu nodded, checked the corridor again, and started off, K'Thane on his heels. Rizzi and Marx followed a handful of meters behind them. "For once, we're the nasty surprise."


End file.
